The Other Taiyoukai
by White Deer
Summary: Sesshoumaru finds a heart-broken Kagome and takes her in. Inuyasha chooses Kikyo over Kagome. Kikyo and Kagome are kidnaped by Naraku and Sesshoumaru is forced to travel with Inuyasha and co.
1. Broken Heart, Broken Ankle

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! If I did, I'd be writing episodes instead of fanfiction!  
  
~*~Chapter 1: Broken Heart, Broken Ankle~*~  
  
Kagome was sitting in a field of flowers, breathing in their fresh smell of spring. The sky above her was a clear blue with a couple puffy white clouds floating around. Suddenly the bright blue sky above her turned into a red, the clouds turned black and mixed in with the blood red sky. Kagome got up and ran, needing to get away from the terrible sky.  
  
'What's going on?' Kagome asked herself. Suddenly she was looking onto a huge battlefield. There stood the person Kagome feared most, Naraku. Around him stood her friends, Sango and Miroku looked worn out. Inuyasha was growling at the disgusting form that was Naraku. There was a sudden growl and a huge white dog bounded into the battlefield.  
  
Kagome awoke gasping for breath, her eyes were wide. A thin layer of sweat covered her.  
  
'Just a dream, a very real dream, but a dream nonetheless. Although I haven't had that dream for awhile.' Kagome looked around her room. Birds were singing outside her window, and the miko saw her grandfather sweeping the front of the family shrine. Kagome had come back for a test, only her test was two days ago.  
  
'So I lied about when the test was, I think I deserve a couple days off. I'm sure Inuyasha and the others will be fine without me.' Kagome changed into one of her school uniform and climbed down the stairs for breakfast. After a filling breakfast of pancakes and eggs Kagome headed towards the well. She should have been back in the Feudal Era two days ago, and she was sure that Shippou had eaten all the candy.  
  
"Alright, I'm off!" Kagome called out. Her mother hugged her and Souta asked her to say 'hi' to Inuyasha. Her grandfather told her to bring back something for him, and Kagome promised to bring back some piece of youkai.  
  
Kagome jumped into the well and landed with ease on the other side.  
  
"Inuyasha! Shippou!" She climbed up the ladder she had put there and looked around. No one was there. Usually everyone was waiting for her. Inuyasha would be chasing Shippou around and Miroku would be trying to do something perverted to Sango while Kirara watched the monk get slapped. But today there was no one, even the birds seemed quiet.  
  
Kagome climbed out of the well and headed towards the village and saw Sango hit Miroku over the head with her boomerang. Shippou sighed and Kirara mewed.  
  
"Sango-chan! Miroku-sama! Shippou-chan!" All heads turned and watched Kagome race down the hill. Shippou jumped into her arms and Sango hugged her adopted little sister. Miroku hugged her as well, and one hand went lower than it should have gone.  
  
"It's good to have you back Kagome-chan." Sango said, dragging a now unconscious Miroku into Kadae's hut. Shippou was going through Kagome's bag, looking for chocolate.  
  
"Not until after dinner Shippou-chan." Kagome said very motherly. Shippou pouted but cheered up when Kirara started running around him.  
  
"Wh-what happened?" Miroku said as he sat up. Both Sango and Kagome rolled their eyes.  
  
"Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. Shippou turned quiet and Miroku and Sango looked at each other. "What's wrong you guys?" Kagome asked, suddenly worried.  
  
"Well...umm...that is....." Miroku started.  
  
"That is....Inuyasha..." Sango looked lost for words. "I'm sorry Kagome-chan....but he ran into Kikyo-" The look on her little sister's face made the huntress stop mid-sentence. Kagome got up and headed for the door.  
  
"Don't go looking for him Kagome-sama." Miroku said. "Let him be." But Kagome didn't hear him, she was already heading towards the forest. Halfway through the forest she heard the unmistakable voice of Inuyasha. As she came into the clearing her heart seemed to freeze.  
  
There stood Inuyasha holding Kikyo in a tight embrace. Both looked happy in each other's arms. Unable to turn away from the scene playing before her, Kagome watched Inuyasha kiss the dead miko. Inuyasha broke the kiss and saw Kagome. Kikyo looked over Inuyasha's shoulder and smiled evilly.  
  
"Come join us Kagome." Kikyo said. Kagome wanted to run, but her feet seemed to be moving on their own accord, towards Inuyasha and Kikyo. As soon as she was near enough, Kikyo snatched the Shikon shards hanging around Kagome's neck.  
  
"Inuyasha!" The hanyou looked at Kagome. "Stop her, she took the shards." Inuyasha did nothing and looked at Kikyo with love.  
  
"Inuyasha, my love. What of the girl before you?" Kikyo asked, giving Kagome another evil smile. Inuyasha looked at Kikyo then to Kagome and back to Kikyo.  
  
"She is just a shard detector, nothing more Kikyo, my love." Kagome's legs started working again and she ran from the clearing. Inuyasha gave Kikyo another kiss as Kagome ran.  
  
'Inuyasha.....' Kagome ran through tear-stained vison. 'Inuyasha how could you? How could you!?' Kagome's thoughts were painfully interrupted as she tripped over a root of the God Tree. She burst into another wave of tears as she remembered the day she first met Inuyasha, pinned to the same tree. Ignoring her now very painful ankle, she made for the well that would take her home.  
  
Her tears continued to blur her sight as she hobbled towards the well. Suddenly she ran into something. Kagome looked up and saw silvery hair and more tears came to her eyes.  
  
"Move Inuyasha, I'm going home and you can't stop me. Don't make me say the 's' word!" Kagome yelled.  
  
"Baka. I am not Inuyasha." Kagome heard the person in front of her growl softly. Kagome looked up and felt her blood run cold as she looked into the eyes of the Taiyoukai of the Western Lands, Sesshoumaru. Kagome took a hasty step back and Sesshoumaru took a step forward.  
  
"Where is my lowly hanyou brother?" Sesshoumaru asked. Kagome took another step back from fear, but the smell of her rage rose.  
  
"Right now, I couldn't give a rat's ass about where your stupid brother is!" Sesshoumaru growled again and slammed Kagome into a tree.  
  
"Wench, you should learn to hold your tongue." Sesshoumaru hissed as Kagome stood up.  
  
"Yes, well, I'm sooooo sorry oh Mighty Sesshoumaru-sama!" Kagome's rage overran her fear. Sesshoumaru growled louder and lifted Kagome off the ground, a clawed hand around her neck. His talons were digging into the back of her neck, bringing drops of blood from her skin.  
"You are lucky I haven't killed you already wench, now where is my brother, I know you follow him around like a lost puppy."  
  
Tears started to form in Kagome's eyes again. "I'm sorry Sesshoumaru, I shouldn't have yelled, I know you can kill me without a thought." Kagome started to let her tears fall. "I just want to go home." Sesshoumaru lowered her and released her from his death grip.  
  
'Why is she crying?' Sesshoumaru wondered, the salty smell of tears overwhelming his sense of smell. "At least you know some respect."  
  
"Your brother is with the dead miko in the forest." Kagome said sadly. Sesshoumaru smelled the air and shook his head slightly. The smell of his little brother and the dead miko even overrode the miko's tears. How he had not smelled it before was beyond him.  
  
Kagome tried to sneak around the Taiyoukai as he looked towards the forest, but her hurt ankle suddenly gave out on her and Kagome landed on the ground, regaining the attention of Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Where are you going woman?" He asked, watching her limp towards the well.  
  
"I...I'm going home." Kagome answered, and jumped into the well. With a hard THUD Kagome hit the bottom of the Bone Eater's Well. She yelped in pain as her hurt ankle hit the well bottom.  
  
"Mom, Souta, Grandpa?" She yelled out. She looked up and gasped. Instead of the well's roof, there was a blue sky and clouds.  
  
"What are you talking about wench?" Kagome looked up again and saw the Taiyoukai of the West staring back down at her. Kagome gasped when it hit her.  
  
'Oh no! I can't get back without the Jewel Shards!'  
  
~*~End Chapter One~*~  
  
White Deer: Yes, just like I said, I have redone Chapter One! Yay for me! I think that's all I wanted to say. Oh yeah! I'm going to be posting recommendations, so if you have a story that you like or that you've written, I'll put it up after the reviews. All you have to do is give me the link or the authors name and title and I'll go read it! 


	2. Recused and Kidnaped by the Same Person

Disclaimer: Do I really have to write this? I don't, let me repeat, DON'T own Inuyasha.  
  
~*~*~Last time:  
Inuyasha chose Kikyo over Kagome and now our favorite miko is stuck at the bottom of The Bone Eaters well with Sesshoumaru looking at her like she's insane for jumping into a well in the first place. ~*~*~  
  
~*~Chapter 2: Rescued and Kidnaped by the Same Person~*~  
  
Sango looked angerly at Inuyasha as he came down the hill that led to the village.  
  
"Inuyasha.....where is Kagome?" Sango asked, Shippou on the huntress' shoulder. Miroku stood up, ready to hold Sango from ripping apart the hanyou.  
  
"I-I don't know!" Inuyasha said in his usually cocky tone of voice. Sango growled.  
  
"You lie." Shippou jumped onto Inuyasha's head.  
  
"You smell funny Inuyasha." Shippou said. "You smell like ashes and dirt-" The fox kit went flying as Inuyasha flung him away. Miroku caught him. Sango growled again.  
  
"You were Kikyo, weren't you?" If Sango had been a dog, her hackles would be raised and fangs would be bared.  
  
"So what if I was?" Inuyasha replied.  
  
"Kagome must have gone looking for you when she got back from her world. She must have seen you and that dead miko!" Sango yelled.  
  
"Yeah.....she saw us...." Inuyasha said a bit sadly.  
  
"Then where the hell is Kagome?!" Sango asked again.  
  
"She ran off....back towards the well." A sudden gust of wind made Inuyasha growl.  
  
"What is it?" Miroku asked.  
"Sesshoumaru."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"I can't get back! I can't see my family!" Kagome started to panic. Sesshoumaru watched the miko struggle to climb out of the well with a hurt ankle. Much to his displeasure he had smelled his half-breed brother coming.  
  
"Kagome-chan!?" Sango called out. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga and lunged at Sesshoumaru, only the hanyou didn't see Kagome. Sesshoumaru jumped out of the way, picking up and carrying the shaking miko as he moved.  
  
'Sess-Sesshoumaru saved me?!' Kagome thought.  
  
"You should look before you swing little brother. Your wench might get in the way." Sesshoumaru growled.  
  
"Kagome is not my wench!" Inuyasha yelled. "Now get away from her!"  
  
"Why? You said she is not yours." Inuyasha growled. Sesshoumaru smirked, he always enjoyed messing with his little brother's mind.  
  
"Doesn't mean you can have her!"  
  
"Hey!" Kagome yelled, getting the attention of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. "I'm not some piece of property that you can claim you know!"  
  
'Rin is coming. I don't wish for her to see a battle.' Sesshoumaru grabbed Kagome around the waist and flew into the woods. Inuyasha yelled and leaped after them. Kirara flew after the Taiyoukai, with Miroku, Shippou and Sango on her back. Sesshoumaru landed in front of a seven year old in a orange and white striped kimono. He wrapped her in his tail and flew off again.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin chirped.  
  
"Where is Jaken?" Sesshoumaru asked the girl in his tail.  
  
"Umm....Jaken-sama didn't want to play with Rin and told Rin that Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't like Rin and that Rin shouldn't pick flowers for Sesshoumaru-sama and that Jaken is going back home!" Rin had said all this in one breath, and took her time regaining it. Then Rin noticed Kagome, who looked to be in a cold state of shock.  
  
'Who is this little girl? Why is she following Sesshoumaru around? Why is he keeping her?' Kagome thought.  
  
"Hello! What's your name? Rin's name is Rin! Do you like flowers? Rin likes flowers! Rin also like to chase Jaken-sama around and Rin likes to fish! Do you like to fish!?" Rin didn't get an answer as she fell asleep in Sesshoumaru's tail. Then it hit Kagome who she was with, like the last 10 minutes had been a blur.  
  
"Let me go Sesshoumaru! I have nothing that you want and if you want to use me for bait, it won't work. Inuyasha doesn't care for me." Kagome heard the Taiyoukai growl. "So let me go!"  
  
"Be quiet woman. You will wake Rin."  
  
"Why did you kidnap me?"  
  
"Rin has been whining for a playmate, I have watched you play with that fox kit like he was your own pup. And if I tire of you, I can still use you for bait. Even if Inuyasha doesn't care for you, the monk and huntress do."  
  
"It doesn't matter, Miroku and Sango have nothing that you want."  
  
"They don't, but Inuyasha travels with them."  
  
"And if he doesn't have what you want?" Sesshoumaru noticed that she tried not to say Inuyasha's name.  
  
"Then we'll see." Sesshoumaru replied. Kagome shivered from fear, not sure what was going to happen.  
  
"Who's the girl?" Kagome asked, wanting to stay awake, not trusting Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Her name is Rin." Was all he said. Kagome felt herself get sleepy, but didn't want to fall asleep.  
  
"Sleep. It is a long flight ahead." Sesshoumaru said, smelling her tiredness.  
  
"I'm not tired." Kagome heard Sesshoumaru growl. Suddenly part of his tail wrapped around her throat and cut off her oxygen. Kagome started to panic and tried to breath or unwrap his tail from around her neck. Sesshoumaru squeezed harder and watched the miko go limp from unconsciousness.  
  
~*~In Kagome's dream~*~  
  
Kagome stood in some sort of study. The bookcases were full of leather bound books and scrolls. A desk in the middle of the study was littered with papers, maps and scrolls. Kagome held a black leather bound book in her hands. Before she could read what it said she was standing in the middle of a forest. On her hip there was a sword.  
  
'I don't have a sword.' Kagome thought. She drew the sword gasped as it's blade shone in the sun. 'It's so light. But's long and full tang as well, how can it be so light?'  
  
"Hello? Hello?" Kagome's head jerked up at the sound of someone's voice. It sounded happy and young.  
  
~*~End Dream~*~  
  
"Hello? Hello?" Kagome blinked and was looking into the face of the little seven year old girl from this afternoon.  
  
"Ummm...hi." Kagome sat up and gazed around. The sky was starting to get dark and a couple stars were starting to show. There was a fire nearby and it crackled and popped.  
  
"What's your name? Rin's name is Rin."  
  
"Kagome." Kagome continued looking around, Sesshoumaru was no where in sight.  
  
"Rin is hungry. Rin hopes Sesshoumaru comes back soon." As if on cue, the Taiyoukai stepped out of the forest and handed Rin a bowl of rice. He handed Kagome one as well and sat on the other side of the fire. Kagome looked down at the rice.  
  
"It's not poisoned." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome looked at Rin, who was wolfing down her bowl of rice.  
  
"What about you?" Kagome asked.  
  
"I don't eat human food." He said. Kagome sighed and ate the rice, finding it quite good. Rin settled down after chasing a firefly around and went to sleep, curled into a little ball and sucking her thumb. Kagome, however, didn't fall asleep as easily. The dreams from before haunted her mind, and knowing that Sesshoumaru was right there didn't help a bit. Finally Kagome fell asleep, watching the pink dawn start to come up.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Yay! And now for an A.N  
  
AN: Remember lovely readers: Good reviews=Happy me! I even enjoy bad reviews, usually they something like 'make sure you reread your work to fix errors.' and I will. I like reading your advise! I even like reviews that say 'I hate your story, it's the worst thing I've ever read!' I like those, because you had to read it to make that decision, which means you've read my story. And that makes me happy!  
  
~*~Review Responses~*~  
  
InuYoukai NM: I liked the redone Chapter One as well...I think its explains more and has more detail. Thanks for being my first reviewer! *hugs InuYoukai* Thank you! Have some candy! *point to a large bowl of candy* Help yourself!  
  
Suzuko: Will try to update ASAP...but like I said, I might not get around to posting a chapter at the right time...so please forgive me if a chapter is a day or so late. I haven't even finished the whole story yet....*glares at muse*  
  
Umi: Glad you think so!  
  
Sliver Miko: I'm glad you like my story! I hope you continue to like it and review.  
  
WD: Oh yeah! I forgot something (that's not uncommon by the way) I'll be doing recommendations for other stories at the end of most of my chapters. So if you have a story that you like or that you wrote, send me the URL and I'll go read it, if I like it, I'll post it at the end of one of my chapters! No one sent me anything yet.....so I'll pick one!  
  
~*~Recommendation: White Dogs: Perversity by SilverQuick.~*~ Great story! Nice plot and lots of humor! Kagome finally lifts the blindfold from her eyes and understands where she stands in the triangle between herself, Inuyasha and Kikyou. There comes a point in everyone's life where you reach a fork in the road. Now, Kagome's reached said point. Which road will she take? The easy one, the road less traveled. Or will she go on to make her own path? ~*~ Go check it out! And keep those reviews coming! 


	3. Ramen is Good

Must I? Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, blah, blah, blah...  
  
~*~Last time:~*~"She...she ran off towards the well." 'Sess-Sesshoumaru saved me?' "Why did you kidnap me?" "What about you?" "I don't eat human food"~*~  
  
~*~Chapter 3: Ramen is Good~*~  
  
Kagome woke up in short of breath. Her dreams had been plaguing her sleep again. She went to wipe the sweat from her forehead and found that she couldn't move her arms. She looked down and gasped, below her were tree tops and a couple clouds floating below her.  
  
"Wha-" She started, stopping when she heard a growl.  
  
"Forget where you were?" Kagome looked up and saw the Taiyoukai of the West. Memories started flooding back. Tears started to form as the memories of Inuyasha and Kikyo came to mind. She also missed Sango, Miroku and Shippou. Even Kirara.  
  
"Umm...where are we?" Kagome asked timidly.  
  
"We just entered the Western Lands." Sesshoumaru said. "Finally." Kagome thought he was talking about being home, but then Kagome saw a dark shape flying towards them. The shape got bigger and bigger until it turned into a large two-headed dragon with horses' manes. Rin blinked at looked at the dragon mount.  
  
"Ah-Un!" The dragon flew along side of Sesshoumaru and Rin climbed off of Sesshoumaru's tail and jumped onto the huge saddle that was on the dragon's back. Rin hugged one of its head and took hold of the reins. Suddenly Kagome was put on the saddle as well, the sudden openness of the sky around her was startling. She grabbed the saddle like her life depended on it.  
  
"Kagome-chan is funny!" Rin chirped. One head was looking at her and growled something to its partner. Kagome could have sworn they were laughing at her. Kagome watched Sesshoumaru fly ahead and then land, Ah-Un continued flying on.  
  
"Where's Sesshoumaru going?" Kagome asked Rin.  
  
"Watch this Kagome-chan!" Rin said happily. "Down Ah-Un!" The seven year old called out. Kagome's stomach dropped as the dragon dropped suddenly. Kagome was still shaking when the sudden fall stopped. "Wasn't that fun Kagome-chan!?" Rin asked. Kagome nodded meekly.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru, Rin, Ah-Un and Kagome stopped for the night in a nice clearing. As soon as they touched land Kagome's hurt ankle started protesting again. The sky wasn't yet dark and the sun was starting to set. Sesshoumaru wandered off again and came back with more rice. Kagome wondered how many times Rin had rice a week. Kagome put her hands in her pockets and felt something.  
  
"A ramen package?" Kagome whispered. Sure enough it was a package full of the noodles and flavorings.  
  
"Ohh...what is that Kagome-chan? Can Rin see?" Rin asked, her rice bowl empty.  
  
"It's food. Would you like some?" Rin nodded. "You'll have to ask Sesshoumaru first."  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Can Rin have some of Kagome's food? It looks yummy!" Sesshoumaru nodded. "Yay!" Rin said.  
  
"I'll need some wood and your rice bowl and some water." Kagome didn't have a pot, but a wooden rice bowl would do, she could put it above the fire with some sticks. Rin ran off into the forest with Ah-Un following her.  
  
"Who is the dead miko?" Sesshoumaru asked when Rin was gone.  
  
"She's Inuyashas' love. But she died pinning him to the tree. She was brought back to life, but doesn't feel anything but hate. Kikyo wants to drag Inuyasha to hell with her." Kagome said sadly.  
  
"Interesting." Sesshoumaru said. He turned his back to her and watched the stars start to come up. Rin came back with two rice bowls full of water and Ah-Un carried a bunch of sticks in both of its' mouths.  
  
"Here you go Kagome-chan!" Rin said. She put the rice bowls down and the dragon dropped the sticks. Kagome put together a little fire pit and balanced one of the rice bowls on some sticks. She opened the package of ramen and put the dry noodles into the bowl.  
  
"And now we wait for 10 or so minutes, then add this little packet, then we have noodles." Kagome explained. Rin watched the noodles start to soften and Kagome poked them every so often with a chopstick. Sesshoumaru watched with little interest and soon went back to star gazing.  
  
"Is it done yet?" Rin asked.  
  
"Nope, not yet." Kagome answered.  
  
"What about now?" Rin asked again. Kagome didn't answer but wondered where her friends where, if they were looking for her, and if they were worried about her.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"We should stop here." Sango said. Kirara growled in agreement and landed. Miroku climbed off the cat's back and started looking for something to eat. Shippou yawned and Inuyasha jumped into a tree and was silent.  
  
"Shippou, why don't you sleep?" Miroku asked.  
  
"Because I can't stop worrying about Kagome." The fox said.  
  
"I don't think any of us can stop worrying, but she wouldn't want you tired now would she?" Sango said. Shippou yawned and nodded, then curled up by Kirara and instantly fell asleep.  
  
"Do you think we'll find her?" Sango asked Miroku.  
  
"Of course we'll find her!" Inuyasha said from his perch. "And when we do, I'll kick Sesshoumaru's ass for taking what's mine!" Sango and Miroku were up all night, and watched Inuyasha sneak off. They sent Kirara after him and what came back wasn't good, the cat's head hung low and her eyes were back.  
  
"He's seeing Kikyo." Sango said sadly.  
  
"And by what I've heard, Kikyo isn't very happy about him looking for Kagome." Miroku said. Shippou was up and listening to the monk and huntress.  
  
"We should find Kagome first." The fox said. Sango and Miroku nodded and headed off on Kirara.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Is it done yet?" Rin asked for the 10th time in 5 minutes. Kagome sighed and looked at the noodles, they looked done. She took the little packet of flavoring and stirred it into the noodles then passed some to Rin.  
  
"Careful, it's hot." Kagome warned, blowing on hers before eating them.  
  
"Wow, these are good Kagome-chan. Rin likes these Kagome-chan! Sesshoumaru-sama?" The Taiyoukai looked at Rin. "Rin thinks Sesshoumaru- sama would like these too!"  
  
"I don't eat human food Rin. You know that." The girl nodded and continued eating. After dinner Rin slept by Ah-Un, curled into a little ball and sucking her thumb in contentment. Kagome tried to sleep but found it eluded her. She wanted sleep, but she feared the dreams she was having, they were so real, so vivid. No dream could be like that. Sesshoumaru continued gazing at the stars.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The next morning after a quick breakfast and feeding Ah-Un, Kagome and Rin climbed on the dragon and it took off, Sesshoumaru following closely.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Rin asked.  
  
"Half a day." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"Yay! Then Rin can show Kagome-chan all the pretty flowers!" Rin soon fell asleep. Kagome started panicking again as no one was holding the reins of the dragon. But soon sleep overcame her.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The trio arrived at Sesshoumaru's house around midday. Having awakened a little while earlier Kagome was awed at the size of the place from the air. Rin awoke later, just as they landed.  
  
"Rin, go play." Sesshoumaru said. Rin nodded and ran into the flowers. Sesshoumaru then looked at Kagome and she backed up a step. "Follow me." He said.  
  
Kagome was again awed at the size of the house. The entryway itself was bigger than her house. She knew she was going to get lost. Sesshoumaru led her down a bunch of halls and Kagome tried to remember which way they turned.  
  
'Left, right, right, long hall, left, right, right...umm...I think it was left...or maybe right?' Kagome was confused. Unknown to her, Sesshoumaru smirked as she tried to remember the way around. The Taiyoukai suddenly stopped and Kagome ran into him and he growled softly.  
  
"This is your room. Rin's room is to the left. Baths are across the hall. There is a dojo in the basement, ask someone to show you where. There is a library upstairs and my room and study, which you are not allowed in. Food is served at dawn and dusk but if your human body won't last that long, ask someone in the kitchen and they will make you something. You aren't allowed outside without myself or Rin and don't touch anything on the dojo walls." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"Why?" Kagome asked, already finding it hard to remember what he just said.  
  
"All the weapons have a live edge."  
  
"Why am I here?" Kagome asked, that question had been gnawing at her for a while now.  
  
"Until Inuyasha gets here, which won't be for awhile, you care for Rin. There is trouble in the South and I will be having other Taiyoukais here. I can't have her underfoot. Teach her."  
  
"How do you know I will teach her?" Kagome asked. One Taiyoukai was arrogant enough, Kagome didn't want to be there when 3 or 4 of them got together.  
  
"I have watched you teach the fox." Sesshoumaru said. With that he left,  
  
'Probably to his study.' Kagome thought. She looked to the door to her right and left.  
  
Suddenly the pain from her ankle started up again. As soon as Kagome said "ouch" a servant came and bandaged her foot, then put some foul smelling purple liquid on it. Instantly it felt better, and Kagome wouldn't have been surprised if it had just healed.  
  
"Thanks." Kagome said. The servant bowed and ran off.  
  
'Now.....where in this place am I? They need a map that says 'You are here' on it.' Kagome sighed and started wandering around Sesshoumaru's house.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
WD: Well, that's Chapter 3. Yay for me! I got around to redoing another one! Sesshou-chan's so cool. Sorry about not updating this one on Monday....my stupid computer was acting really slow...found out it had a nice little virus. My anti-virus program caught it soon enough and now the little bugger is gone! Yay!!!!  
  
~*~Reviews: ~*~  
  
Sukera: I'll try to update ASAP! Have some candy! *hands out candy to all her reviewers*  
  
ptbear: I'm still working on part 2 if you can believe it. I've been working on Blast From the Past and Yin and Yang...and then there's the other story I'm working on....opps...said to much...again.  
  
Hyper Person: I'm glad you like it!  
  
~*~  
  
Recommendation (did I spell that right????)  
  
Forget Me Not by Youkai Yume: Sesshomaru's always hated humans, Kagome's always thought he was emotionless. But now that he's wounded and under Kagome's care, will his opinion change? Can Kagome see through his emotionless mask? Sess/Kag! Great Story! Go Read!!!! 


	4. Kagome's First Day and Then Some

WD: Hello again! Yup, it's time again for another Chapter in The Other Taiyoukai. Yay!  
  
~*~Last time: Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku and Shippou all go look for Kagome. Rin, Sesshoumaru and Kagome arrive at Sesshoumaru's house and Kagome is completely lost.   
  


* * *

  
Chapter 4: Kagome's First Day and Then Some  
  
"What are you guys doing?" Inuyasha asked, having found Sango, Miroku and Shippou about 2 miles away from their original camp site. "I thought you guys had run off on me."  
  
"No." Sango said, lying to the hanyou, in fact, if it hadn't started raining they would have been far away. But because Kirara is a cat, and cats hate getting wet, they were forced to stop. "We were just looking a hot spring."  
  
"Oh." Inuyasha said. "And by the way, Kikyo is going to join us."  
  
That got everyone's attention.  
  
"What!?" Sango yelled, her views were the same as Kagome's on Kikyo, - she hated the dead miko!  
  
"Although I doubt the girl is still alive." Kikyo said as she came out from the trees. Sango growled and jumped up, ready to rip the dead miko to pieces. Thankfully for Kikyo, Miroku stopped her.  
  
"What the hell Inuyasha?!" Sango yelled in the hanyou's face.  
  
"You heard me right Sango. Kikyo is going to join our hunt for Kagome." Inuyasha yelled back, protecting Kikyo. "If we're lucky, we can even find some of the shards. Kagome isn't the only one that can see them you know."  
  
"Let me go monk!" Sango was in a rage, ready to beat the hanyou and miko into a bloody pulp. The only thing stopping her was Miroku and Shippou hanging onto her.  
  
"I'm sorry Sango, I can't let you hurt Inuyasha." Miroku said, but even he was having trouble restraining Sango. She was a lot stronger than he had guessed! Inuyasha sensed the anger in Sango and changed the subject very quickly.  
  
"Lets go."  
  
*  
  
After getting completely lost and ending up in the south wing, having to ask Rin to help her get unlost, Kagome finally found her room again, which was is in the north wing. Kagome flopped down on the futon that awaited her in her room.  
  
'I really need a map of this place.' Kagome thought. Rin had shown her a couple short cuts, but it seemed that not even Rin knew the whole place. Kagome finally fell asleep after reading a book she had found in her room.  
  
"Kagome-chan! Wake up Kagome-chan! Sesshoumaru-sama says for Rin to wake up Kagome-chan because breakfast is ready! Come on Kagome-chan! Get up Kagome-chan!" Kagome opened her eyes slowly and was met with the dark brown ones of Rin.  
  
"Alright Rin." Kagome said sleepily. "I'm up." Kagome looked around for clothes but could find none, her bag still in the forest somewhere. "Umm...Rin-chan, what am I suppose to wear?"  
  
"Kagome-chan is funny!" Rin chirped. The seven year old opened the closet and Kagome gasped. Kimonos of every color were folded neatly on shelves. Red, blue, green, pink, black, every color Kagome could name. She picked a navy blue kimono that had pale pink flowers dancing across from shoulder to hip, with a pale pink sash to go with it.  
  
"Alright Rin, which way to the dining room?" Kagome asked. Rin started running down the halls with Kagome jogging behind her. Rin stopped when she ran into Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Rin, didn't I tell you not to run in the halls?" The Taiyoukai looked at the girl wrapped around his leg.  
  
"Umm...maybe?" She answered Sesshoumaru, giving him one of those I'm- not-sure-maybe-you-told-me-but–if-you-did-I-wasn't-listening-anyway looks.  
  
"Don't run in the halls Rin. Go eat."  
  
"Hai Sesshoumaru-sama!" As soon as Rin turned the corner she set off at a run, trampling Jaken in the process. Sesshoumaru shook his head and headed off to eat as well. Kagome followed in silence and found a seat next to Rin at the table. As soon at Kagome sat down Rin was off telling her all the things they could do.  
  
"We can go to the garden and pick flowers and chase butterflies and play hide and seek and play with Jaken and..."  
  
Kagome just nodded and ate her food, watching Rin take a breath of air and at the same time stuff food into her mouth, then starting to talk again.  
  
"Chew with your mouth closed Rin." Sesshoumaru said, also watching the girl. Rin nodded.  
  
"Can Sesshoumaru-sama play with Rin and Kagome-chan too?" She asked.  
  
"Not today Rin, I have a lot of work to do, now go outside." Rin obeyed him and ran outside to pick flowers.  
  
"Woman, this afternoon you will teach Rin." Sesshoumaru said, getting up and heading towards his office.  
  
"My name is not woman, human, wench or otherwise. My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me." Kagome said.  
  
"You are in my house and I will call you what I wish." Sesshoumaru said, his mask of indifference on his face.  
  
*  
  
'Rin is fast learner.' Kagome thought as Rin quickly solved 5+2.  
  
"Kagome-chan, can we pick flowers now?" Rin asked.  
  
"After a couple more math problems, Sesshoumaru wants you to learn how to do math, spell and write."  
  
"Why doesn't Jaken teach Rin?"  
  
"Because Jaken isn't smart enough." Rin and Kagome giggled and continued their lesson.  
  
*  
  
Kagome was wandering around when leaned against the wall. Suddenly the door opened and Kagome was on the floor.  
  
'What the.....' Kagome slowly got up and looked around. Natural light streamed through the windows above, illuminating the room. All around her Kagome saw weapons of every kind. Katana, wakizashi, tanto, kama, bo, jo, keibo, jutte, ebo, tonfa, manji shi, nunti bo, eku, tekko, nunchaku, shurikens, yari, naginata and yumi covered the walls. What her grandfather wouldn't give to stand in this room. Kagome was about to touch one of the shurikens when she remembered what her grandfather taught her.  
  
'Most shurikens had the tips coated in vemon.' Kagome then remembered what Sesshoumaru said. 'I like to keep my weapons sharp.' Kagome sighed and continued looking around. She found some stairs and followed them down to a huge room, more sunlight lit the room.  
  
Suddenly a shuriken was flung at her and Kagome ducked just in time.  
  
THUNK! The deadly weapon hit the wall behind Kagome and stuck there, waiting for someone to pull it out.  
  
"You should look before you enter an unknown room. I guarantee you'll live longer." Someone said. Kagome looked across the huge room and saw Sesshoumaru standing there, another shuriken in hand. "Didn't my half-breed brother teach you anything about how to protect yourself?"  
  
"N...Not really." Kagome stuttered, still shaking from a couple seconds ago. There was another noise and Kagome looked down at her feet, a bokken lay at her feet. "What...."  
  
"Well pick it up. I've seen you with a bow." Sesshoumaru said, reminding Kagome of the time he had used a human arm to get Tetsusaiga and she had broken his armor with one of her arrows. "But how are you with a katana?"  
  
"I've never used a katana before." Kagome confessed. She picked up the wooden weapon.  
  
"How do you hold one?", he asked. Kagome felt stupid and held the sword out. She saw Sesshoumaru smirk and felt even stupider. The rest of the day was devoted to how to hold a katana and the proper stance while handling one. After she got the hang of holding a sword Sesshoumaru showed her a basic sword kata.  
  
"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Hai?" He replied during a break, putting Kagome's wooden sword away.  
  
"I...umm...I miss my friends, Shippou and Sango and Miroku. Do..do you think I could vist them?"  
  
"As long as Inuyasha-"  
  
"I never said I wanted to see Inuyasha." Kagome said. Sesshoumaru nodded. "And I need to go back hom-" She stopped as she remembered that Kikyo had her jewel shards and she couldn't get back home. Tears came to her eyes and she realized that she couldn't see her family again. Kagome cried on the first thing that she fell against, which was Sesshoumaru's tail. He was a bit surprised as he smelled the salt from her tears.  
  
"What is the matter?" He asked, using the same tone of voice he used with Rin when she was upset.  
  
"I can't go back home! I can't see my mom or brother or grandpa anymore!" Kagome sobbed, her tears making Sesshoumaru's tail very wet and uncomfortable. He looked down at her and moved her from his tail to his chest. Kagome didn't try to stop him and started crying into the Taiyoukai's kimono, hugging his tail like it was a stuffed animal.  
  
*End Chapter*  
  
WD: Awwww...Fluffy, your so sweet to poor Kagome-chan.  
  
Sesshoumaru: feh..  
  
WD: We all know he's just a big sweetie.  
  
Sesshoumaru: *growls*  
  
WD: By the way, all the funny names above...like yari, shuriken, ebo, wakizashi, and all those others, they are the real names for traditional Japanese or Okinawan weapons. If you want to know more about them....my stupid computer won't let me put the url but I'm sure Google will have info.  
  
Reviews  
  
*  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: Don't worry....Kagome-chan gets lots of new powers in Part II.....I've said to much....*sigh*  
  
Aznchicki: Cool! I was the first Sess/Kag story you liked? That's hard to believe...but cool! Thanks!  
  
Sukera: *gives more candy* There you go! Thanks for your review!  
  
Tbiris: Thanks for your review!  
  
RoquesHeart: I'll update as soon as I can. And yes...Inuyasha-chan is a jerk...but we all love him!  
  
*Recommendation* Laying Amongst Dokatsu by Nostawen Allesiel An injured Sesshoumaru in Kagome's time era is just the beginning of the young miko's troubles. Sess/Kag. Great story! Go read it...I demand you to! Not really....... 


	5. The Joys of Being a Taiyoukai and Confro...

Disclamier: Errr......  
  
~*~Last time: "By the way...Kikyo is going to join us.""You are in my house and therefore I will call you what I wish.""Because Jaken isn't smart enough.""You should look before you enter an unknown room. I guarantee you'll live longer.""I can't go back home! I can't see my mom or brother or grandpa anymore!"~*~  
  
~*~Chapter 5: The Joys of Being a Taiyoukai and Confronting Inuyasha~*~  
  
Kagome cried on Sesshoumaru's shoulder until she had fallen asleep. He wrapped his tail around her and carried her to her bedroom, then set her down on the futon waiting for her. On his way to his study Sesshoumaru checked on Rin, the little girl had rolled off her futon and was rolled up in her cover and was sucking her thumb.  
  
~*~In Kagome's Dream~*~  
  
Kagome was running, the trees going by in a blur of colors. Suddenly she stopped to catch her breath. Kagome looked around and found herself in a bamboo forest. White fog swirled around her ankles and the bases of the bamboo stalks. The miko looked down and gasped, instead of her school uniform she was wearing a heavy kimono light green in color; matching the bamboo perfectly.  
  
Suddenly she smelled the air and growled an unhuman growl. Kagome started running again and the bamboo became a blur of color once more. In front of her the fog seemed to form a blue orb, Kagome reached out to grasp it but found it just out of her reach, then there was a scream and-  
  
~*~End Kagome's Dream~*~  
  
Kagome woke up and looked about her. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in the dojo anymore.  
  
'I could've sworn I fell asleep in there....after I was crying against Sess-he must have carried me to bed.' Kagome sighed and opened the huge closet that housed all the colorful kimonos. She picked out a nice cherry blossom color that had white sleeves. When she opened the door she found a group of humans standing around.  
  
Only they weren't quite human, all of them had pointy ears and 2 of the 5 had tails. All of them also had markings on their faces.  
Kagome froze on spot.  
  
"Well...who are you?" One of them asked. All the others turned to look at her. Kagome quickly bowed and tried to escape the youkais' glances.  
  
"I knew Sesshoumaru had one human girl....I didn't know he had adopted another one." Another youkai said. Kagome tried to leave but found the youkai blocking the hallway.  
  
"Kagome. You are awake." Kagome turned at the familer voice and saw Sesshoumaru. Kagome inwardly sighed, not really wanting to be around all these unknown youkai.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, you never told us you adopted another human." The first youkai said. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and faced Kagome.  
  
"Take Rin outside." He said.  
  
"You're not going to introduce us to the little miko?" One youkai said. All of them nodded, having felt Kagome's miko presence.  
  
"Kagome, these are the other Taiyoukais of this land. The Taiyoukai of the North is Katzumi, Taiyoukai of the East is Hayato. Then there is the Taiyoukai of South, Akihiro." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome bowed to each of them and they nodded their heads as Sesshoumaru said their names.  
  
"It's nice to meet you all. But I must go eat." Kagome slipped past Sesshoumaru and the other Taiyoukais. Rin was already eating, wolfing down food and talking to Jaken, who didn't looked pleased.  
  
"Keep Jaken out." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome nodded and headed down the hall while Sesshoumaru led the other Taiyoukais down another hall.  
  
"Good morning Rin-chan." Kagome said taking a seat next to the girl. Rin stopped shoveling food into her mouth to wave and then continued eating.  
  
"It's about time you woke up woman! You know how long I've been watching the brat waiting for you?" Jaken said. "Did Sesshoumaru-sama say I could go to the meeting now?" The toad asked, looking hopeful.  
  
"Sesshoumaru said to keep you out." Kagome said. Jaken looked agast.  
  
"What do you mean human? Sesshoumaru-sama wouldn't leave his loyal servant behind! You must be lying human!" Jaken started to walk down the hall Sesshoumaru had gone.  
  
"Oh wait Jaken." Kagome said. She handed the toad a little rock. "Can you give this to Sesshoumaru?" Jaken grumbled but stopped as the rock grew bigger and bigger. Soon it was so heavy that the toad couldn't hold it any more.  
  
"Curse you woman! Remove this rock!" Jaken cried. Kagome shook her head and smiled.  
  
"Sorry Jaken. There is a spell on it and only I can remove it." Kagome said. "Sesshoumaru said not to bother him." Kagome and Rin walked out, leaving Jaken on the floor with a huge rock pinning him down.  
  
'Thank you Shippou.' Kagome said as she and Rin walked out to the garden. The fox kit had taught her a couple useful tricks, Jaken was still cursing Kagome when the closed the door to the garden.  
  
"Where's Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked.  
  
"He's with a bunch of other Taiyoukais and they are having a meeting right now." Kagome answered.  
  
"Ohh....does that mean Hayato and Akihiro and Katzumi are here?" Rin asked while looking at a pretty flower.  
  
"How do you know them?" Kagome wondered....how did a 7 year old human girl know the Taiyoukais of a good part of Japan?  
  
"Sometimes Akihiro-sama and Katzumi-sama bring their pups and Rin and Ai and Etsu and Kane and Haru get to play together." Rin chirped. Kagome was a bit surprised to find out that a human girl knew the next Lords and Ladies of Japan, the miko giggled at the thought of little Taiyoukai's running around.  
  
"What's so funny Kagome-chan?" Rin asked, watching as the miko continued to laugh. ~*~  
Kagome and Rin came in for lunch and were surprised that the Taiyoukais were eating as well.  
  
"I would prefer if you didn't play kitsune tricks on Jaken Kagome." Sesshoumaru said, tossing her the enchanted rock she had used to pin Jaken to the ground. The other Taiyoukai's chuckled and Kagome blushed a bright red.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama...Rin is hungry." The little girl chirped. Sesshoumaru looked at her and she jumped into a seat at the other end of the table. Kagome took a seat next to Rin and watched the girl stuff herself with food.  
  
"The human reminds me of my pup." One of the Taiyoukai's said. "When we meet again I shall have to bring Ai and Kane."  
  
"And I shall bring Etsu and Haru." The Taiyoukai of the South added.  
  
"But that shall be next time as I believe this meeting is over." Sesshoumaru said. The others nodded, whether by fear or agreement Kagome wasn't sure.  
  
"Then we shall see each other in four moons." The Taiyoukai of the East said, getting up. Everyone else followed and bowed to each other then headed their own ways. The Taiyoukai of the South created a cloud like thing and sat on it as it flew to his lands. The Taiyoukias of the North and South changed into their true forms and set off as well.  
  
"You wanted to see your friends?" Sesshoumaru asked Kagome.  
  
"If it's not too much of a problem." Kagome answered. Rin had run off to annoy Jaken, leaving the Taiyoukai and miko alone.  
  
"Then we will leave now....I don't wish to stay long however." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome nodded, he wrapped his tail around her and took to the air, leaving Jaken at the mercy of Rin.  
  
"Sesshoumaru....what if Inuyasha..."  
  
"My baka of a brother will not harm or do anything else to you unless he wants his arms ripped off."  
  
"But...." Kagome stopped her question, knowing the answer would be the same answer as her first question.  
  
Kagome fell asleep again and Sesshoumaru was left to comtemplate things on his own. 'Rin must be making me soft...taking in another human....especally Inuyasha mate....no..he chose the dead miko.....Kagome's no one's mate...wasn't I going to use her for bait for Inuyasha? And now look...I'm taking her to see her friends....'  
  
About 2 or 3 hours later Sesshoumaru landed and poked Kagome with a claw to wake her up. "Kagome, wake up..."  
  
"....Five more minutes..." Kagome answered sleepily, snuggling deeper into Sesshoumaru's tail.  
  
"No, not five more minutes."  
  
"Fine....I'm up, I'm up, I'm still tired..." Kagome got rewarded with another poke. She finally opened her eyes and saw Sesshoumaru staring back down at her. She instantly got lost in his golden eyes, his face might not show much emotion but his eyes sure did.  
  
"Come Kagome, your friends await, then I would like to get back, I don't trust Jaken to keep Rin out of trouble....or vis versa."  
  
Kagome walked towards the village, Sesshoumaru following her. Sango caught sight of her first and ran to her, hugging her like she was a long- lost sibling. Shippou followed suit, grabbing onto Kagome like Rin attached herself to Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Kagome-chan!" Sango said happily, breaking the hug. Miroku walked up and hugged Kagome as well, the miko broke the hug before his hand started to wander. Only then did Sango, Miroku and Shippou notice Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Sesshoumaru! What are you doing here?" Sango growled at the Taiyoukai, ready to get her boomerang.  
  
"It's alright....after the Inuyasha....err...thing....he kinda took me in...now I'm helping to teach Rin, his...err...human compainion." Sango and Miroku nodded.  
  
"If he hurt you I'll-"Sango started, her protective side starting to show.  
"No...he's been a real gentleman." Kagome said. "He's even teaching me to defend myself using a sword."  
  
"Why?" Shippou asked.  
  
"Because what if we're battling a youkai and I can't use my bow and arrows?" The others nodded. Then the happy reunion was rudely interrupted.  
  
"BITCH!" Inuyasha came running up to Kagome. "Where the HELL have you been?! Kikyo and the rest of us have been-"  
  
"What do you mean, 'Kikyo and the rest of us?'" Sango interrupted, everyone was giving the hanyou death glares. "We are not in your little group with the dead miko...we only travel with Kagome!" Inuyasha growled and then growled louder when he saw his brother.  
  
"What the hell are you here for Sesshoumaru? You bastard!"  
  
"My my Inuyasha, is that any way to talk in front of the fox kit?" Sesshoumaru said. Inuyasha was about to draw Tetsusaiga to slice his older brother into two when-  
  
"Inuyasha." A voice called. Kikyo walked up and hugged Inuyasha. Kagome felt sadden but then felt ready to tear Kikyo limb to limb. Sesshoumaru saw the hate in Kagome's eyes and held her back with his tail.  
  
"What's the matter youkai?" Kikyo asked. Inuyasha saw Sesshoumaru touching his Kagome and growled.  
  
"Let Kagome go you bastard!" Inuyasha yelled to his half-brother.  
  
"Afraid I might kill the wench?" The dead miko asked. Kagome growled, more dog-like than any human.  
  
"No, but I would hate for your blood to get on her kimono, as it is new." Sesshoumaru answered, smirking when he saw the hate rage in Kikyo's eyes. She pulled out her bow but before she could do anything the Taiyoukai drew Toukijin and sliced her bow in half.  
  
"I suggest we leave now." Sesshoumaru said.  
"You're not taking Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled.  
  
"Sit." Kagome said, watching the hanyou fall on his face. "I'll come see you again okay Sango, Shippou, Miroku?" They nodded and Sango hugged Kagome one last time before saying good-bye.  
  
"You're not taking her!" Inuyasha yelled again, the subduing spell wearing off.  
  
"Inuyash...sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit and SIT!" Sesshoumaru smirked as his younger brother made a hole in the ground. He wrapped his tail around Kagome and set off back into the sky.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
WD: Yay! Another chapter done! Hooray! Ummm.....I'm only going to reply to the reviews for the current chapter...so I'll reply for chapter 5...but not chapters before that....resons, 1: I'm short on time. 2.I'm lazy. Sorry.  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Sukera: *hands out more candy* I'll update ASAP  
  
tbiris: I feel sorry for Kagome too.....so why is it that I make her go through such hell in my stories......  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: I'm glad you like it!  
  
Mmm.....Inuyasha: I know....Sesshou-chan is sweet! *huggles her Sesshoumaru plushie* yay for Sesshou-chan!  
  
Killiara: Yup...Inuyasha is stupid.  
  
eddie4: thanks! I'm glad you like  
  
~*~Recommendation~*~  
28 Days by Rosefire1 Kikyo's a nurse, Miroku's a surgeon (the hands on sort), Inuyasha's a doctor, Sango's the peskiest patient in the world and Shippo is a kid who 'doesn't talk', and kagome has 28 days to live. And this is a humour fic?  
  
Great story! I demand that you read it! 


	6. Sword Play

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, I'll say it once! But I'll have to put a disclaimer on the next chapter too.*sigh*  
  
WD: Sorry for not updating on Thru or whenever it says on my bio, FF.net was acting really weird for awhile, first I couldn't get on at all, then I couldn't log on...so yeah, thanks for waiting!  
  
~*~Last time: "Where's Sesshoumaru-sama?" "He's with a bunch of other Taiyoukais." "I would prefer if you didn't play kitsune tricks on Jaken Kagome." "Afraid I might kill the wench?" "No, but I would hate for your blood to get on her kimono, as it is new."  
  
~*~Chapter 6: Sword play~*~  
  
When Sesshoumaru and Kagome returned to his castle it was late evening, the sun was setting, making the sky look like a painting of reds, oranges and purples. As soon as they had landed Rin ran up to them with flowers in each hand.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin picked flowers for Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome- chan!" Sesshoumaru put Kagome down and patted Rin on the head.  
  
"Shall we go have some dinner then?" Rin nodded and followed him into the dinning room, Kagome not far behind. Rin was talking about all the things she had done while they were gone, mostly bugging Jaken and chasing butterflies and picking flowers for Kagome and Sesshoumaru.  
  
~*~Meanwhile~*~  
  
"That bastard brother of mine! Stealing Kagome like that!" Inuyasha yelled, "and it was the second time he stole her!" Sango, Shippou and Miroku glared at him and Kikyo from across the fire they had made for camp that night.  
  
"It's your fault Inuyasha! Making Kagome-chan so upset in the first place!" Sango yelled at the hanyou. Kikyo gave Sango a death glare, the huntress fully returning the glare.  
  
"I'm going to get Kagome back from Sesshoumaru, she will help us find the Jewel Shards, and tomorrow we are going to the Western Lands." Inuyasha growled, then jumped into a tree, Kikyo lay below him. Sango and Miroku waiting until they were both sound asleep before talking.  
  
"What should we do Miroku?" Sango asked, Shippou had fallen asleep in her lap, curled around Kirara. "Something's changed about Inuyasha...he's not like himself. What should we do?"  
  
"I'm not sure Sango, I don't feel right about leaving Inuyasha....but I have a feeling he might hurt Kagome if she's not warned...you're right...there is something different about him."  
  
"I think we should try to find Kagome-chan." Sango suggested, tossing a stick into the fire and watching it crackle and burn. Miroku nodded.  
  
"Are you sure Kirara can out fly Inuyasha? You remember what happened last time we wanted to find Kagome." Miroku said.  
  
"I'm sure Kirara can...we'll fly all night if we have to...Kirara won't mind." Sango said.  
  
"We should leave now, so that we get a head start. No doubt Inuyasha will continue heading west, and when he finds us gone he'll probably go faster." Miroku said, Sango nodded and quietly awoke Shippou and Kirara. The group walked away from camp until they were hopefully out of hearing range. Then Kirara changed into her larger form as quietly as she could, the others climbed on her back and took off into the dark night sky.  
  
"Head west Kirara....and quickly." The cat growled, understanding and headed towards Sesshoumaru's lands.  
  
~*~Back at Sesshoumaru's castle~*~  
  
Kagome was rewarded with Sesshoumaru's wooden sword at her neck.  
  
"You'd be dead Kagome." Sesshoumaru informed her, she had missed another block and Sesshoumaru had closed in on her. Rin had gone to bed awhile ago, leaving Sesshoumaru and Kagome to practice a bit of sword fighting. They had been at it for two hours now, and every clash ending the same- Sesshoumaru finding his way through Kagome's defense and gently (for the most part) thunking Kagome with his practice sword.  
  
"I know I know." Kagome sighed. Sesshoumaru took a step back and moved into a ready stance. Kagome followed suit and soon they were at it again, trading blows and blocking each other.  
'Last time he attacked first....the time before that he attacked first...maybe....' Kagome lunged forward, attacking him first. Sesshoumaru easily blocked her wild swing and counter-attacked. Kagome blocked the counter-attack, barely, and went for his side. Sesshoumaru moved and brought his sword up, knocking her wooden sword out of her hands.  
  
It landed with a 'Thunk' on the other side of the dojo.  
"You're tired Kagome, you lost your focus and let go of your sword." Sesshoumaru said, pointing his wooden sword less than a centimeter away from her nose.  
  
"You got the tired part right." Kagome yawned. Sesshoumaru lowered his sword and smirked.  
  
"Silly humans, you get tired so easily..", he commented but before he could continue, Kagome lunged at him again, without her sword.  
  
"Don't you know never to lower your weapon to an opponent?" Kagome said as she punched him in the chest.  
  
Sesshoumaru didn't move an inch.  
  
"Don't you know never to hit an oppontent with just one attack?" Sesshoumaru said, smirking. "Never attack with just one hand or foot....use combinations." He attacked her with a fist, she jumped sideways right into his foot.  
  
"You're not fighting fair." Kagome whimpered, holding her hurting side from the kick.  
  
"Life's not fair and neither is fighting." Sesshoumaru said. "Are you ready to quit?"  
  
"Not yet." Kagome said arrogantly. She attacked him again with her hand, he caught it and she surprised him with a roundhouse kick to his side....only he was faster.  
  
Kagome landed on the floor with a 'Thud!' He had thrown her over his back and onto the floor.  
  
"And you don't even know how to fall properly." Sesshoumaru said, smirking as Kagome picked herself off the ground. Surprisingly he offered her a hand to help her up, Kagome took it and yawned again. Kagome rested against the wall while Sesshoumaru put the wooden practice swords away, then joined the tired miko.  
  
"I've had to carry you to your room 2 times since you've been here. Maybe I'll just leave you here tonight." Sesshoumaru said, looking at Kagome as she yawned again and leaned on his tail, snuggling up to it and closing her eyes.  
  
'And I see I'll have to carry you to bed again.' Sesshoumaru thought. He sat there for another hour and a half, watching Kagome as she slept. Finally getting uncomfortable from sitting there for so long, he picked Kagome up with his tail and carried her to bed, gently putting her on the futon and covering her up. He stopped by Rin's room again and put Rin back on her bed, as the girl had rolled off again.  
  
~*~Next Morning~*~  
  
"Kagome-chan! Wake up Kagome-chan!"  
  
Kagome awoke to the now familiar Rin looking back at her.  
  
"Good morning Rin-chan, how are you?"  
  
"Rin is good Kagome-chan! Sesshoumaru-sama sent Rin to wake Kagome- chan up because Kagome-chan was sleeping in too late and Kagome-chan was going to miss breakfast!" Rin chiriped.  
  
"Geez! I didn't know I has slept in this long!" Kagome quickly jumped out of bed and changed into a forest green kimono that Rin said looked pretty, then she followed the little girl to the dinning room. Her arms felt like lead and were sore from all the sword play last night.  
  
"It's about time you woke up." Sesshoumaru said, looking up from a paper that he was reading. Kagome took a seat next to Rin and started filling her plate.  
  
"What's that Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked, looking at the paper in front of Sesshoumaru.  
  
"A report from the Southern Borders. The village is having troubles with a youkai." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"Why are they having problems with a youkai?" Rin asked.  
  
"Inquisitive little thing." Jaken mumbled, entering the room.  
"What's inqu-inquisitive mean Jaken-sama?" Rin asked.  
  
"It means you ask too many questions!", the toad said. Kagome gave him a glare and Jaken mumbled some more and handed Sesshoumaru another note, then left the room, much to Kagome's pleasure.  
  
"Ohhh...what's that paper say Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked.  
  
"The village was attacked last night. I have to take care of the youkai that is attacking the village." Sesshoumaru said. Then he looked at Kagome. "Would you like to come with?"  
  
"Sure....maybe I could help take out the youkai?" Kagome said, she had wanted to see more of the Western Lands beyond the castle but was never allowed to.  
  
"But Kagome-chan, what about Rin's lessons?" The seven year old asked, looking a bit crestfallen.  
  
"You can continue your lessons when we get back in two days Rin." Sesshoumaru said. Rin nodded and started stuffing food in her mouth like she hadn't eaten in days. Sesshoumaru finished his cup of tea and left for his study.  
  
'Does he live off tea?' Kagome wondered silently.  
  
~*~Meanwhile~*~  
  
Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Kirara stopped for a quick break next to a clear stream. They had been flying throughout the night and part of the day, Kirara was tired but willing to fly more.  
  
Miroku kept watch while the others had a quick nap, he having slept a bit while they were flying. 'We must be getting close, maybe another day or so. If we fly through the night we might be able to make to the Western Lands by tomorrow afternoon or evening.' The monk thought. He woke Sango up, in a way that he was rewarded with a hand mark across his face.  
  
Everyone else woke up to Sango's yelling of "PERVERT!"  
  
~*~With Inuyasha~*~  
"Damn Sango, Miroku and Shippou! They left us!" Inuyasha growled, having found the 3 gone.  
  
"Don't worry Inuyasha. That means more time for use to spend alone." Kikyo said, hugging Inuyasha. This made the hanyou a bit happier.  
  
They started walking towards the West, Inuyasha unaware of Kikyo's evil grin.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Hello again my loyal fans!  
  
Inuyasha: You don't have any loyal fans.  
  
WD: Stupid Inuyasha, what do you call the 32 reviews?  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Sukera: Glad you like all the candy....even if it is fake....  
  
Shippou's Acorns: I'm glad you like!  
  
Waterdragonmaster: I'll try and update on the dates on my bio page.  
  
Hieiandboton4ever: Glad you like!  
  
Aya_chan: Yup....poor Shippou......but he gets happier!  
  
Taintedtears: Yup, Inuyasha does need to be taught a lesson, don't worry, he gets it!  
  
Silverstargazing: Yup, Inu-chan is pretty dumb in this story....but that's only because I like Sesshoumaru better.  
  
Tbiris: Kagome is also very forgiving, and she trusts people too easily.  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: I'm glad you like  
  
Eddie4: I'll try to update ASAP!  
  
~*~Recommendation~*~  
  
ForgetMeNot by Youkai Yume  
  
Sesshomaru was always one known for hating humans...Kagome knew it for sure. But what happens when she begins to see through the expressionless mask, and awakens an unknown emotion within the demon lord? Plagued with obsessions, dreams, and thoughts of the girl, he tries to erase her from his mind--however, this becomes an even more difficult task when she gives him a blue forget-me-not flower to remember her by. He begins to think that somehow, just maybe, this enchanting creature that was Kagome, could change his mind about humans. 


	7. Patrollings and Meetings yes I know I sp...

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, if I did, I'd be laughing at all the fanfics out there, but I don't, so I can't laugh, unless they are meant to be funny, in which case I will laugh, so there!....I need to lay off the sake.....  
  
~*~Last time: "That bastard brother of mine! Stealing Kagome like that!" "It's your fault Inuyasha! Making Kagome-chan so upset in the first place!""You'd be dead Kagome." "Sure....maybe I could help take out the youkai?" "PERVERT!" ~*~  
  
~*~Chapter 7: Patrollings and Meetings~*~  
  
"Here you are Rin-chan." Kagome handed the little girl a worksheet with some math problems.  
  
"What is it Kagome-chan?" Rin asked, looking at all the math problems.  
  
"It's a worksheet. You do the problems and write them down on the paper and I'll check your answer when you're done." Rin nodded and ran down the hallway, right into Sesshoumaru's leg.  
  
"Rin, no running in the halls, how many times have I told you?" The Taiyoukai looked down at the human child. Rin counted on her fingers and held up four of them.  
  
"Four times Sesshoumaru-sama!" With that she ran off and Kagome heard a string of curses from Jaken, who appeared around the corner with little dirty footprints on his face.  
  
While Rin was doing math, Kagome was in the dojo again with Sesshoumaru. Instead of sword fighting, today's lesson was hand-to-hand combat. Even with one arm, Sesshoumaru was sill a formidable opponent.  
  
"Ouch!" Kagome yelped as one of Sesshoumaru's kicks hit her in the side. "I still don't see why we can't use the swords...."  
  
"What if you were without your bow or a sword?" Sesshoumaru asked, blocking her punch.  
  
"I'd pick up a stick and use it for a weapon." Kagome answered, attempting to punch him again.  
  
"Real swords can cut through bone without much effort, you really think a stick would hold up against one?" He said, blocking her fist again.  
  
"Still, I-ouch!" Kagome yelped again as another one of his kicks landed on her side. 'And he's being gentle too!'  
  
"Kagome-chan! Kagome-chan! Rin finished her math Kagome-chan!" The girl came bounding into the dojo. Sesshoumaru held onto Kagome, keeping her from doubling over from his kick. Kagome looked over the worksheet and handed it back to Rin.  
  
"Very good Rin-chan, you got them all right." Kagome patted Rin on the head. Rin beamed and raced off to show Jaken, who couldn't care less.  
  
"We shall leave for the Southern Borders." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"Sure....just let me make sure I can still walk."  
  
~*~Meanwhile~*~  
  
Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Kirara walked through the woods, Kirara sleeping in Sango's arms, tired from flying for so long.  
  
"How far do you think we are from Sesshoumaru's lands?" Shippou asked from atop his perch on Miroku's shoulder.  
  
"I'm not sure, but I hope we find them rather than Sesshoumaru finding us, he can be very unpredictable." Miroku said, keeping an eye for any sigh of danger.  
  
"I hope Kagome is alright." Shippou said sadly.  
  
"Me too." Miroku agreed.  
  
"I as well, I really miss Kagome-chan. If he hurt her in anyway...." Sango growled, ready to tear the Taiyoukai of the West in half.  
  
"I don't think he would, Sesshoumaru has a bit more honor than Inuyasha." Miroku said, trying to calm the huntress down.  
"Still....." Sango replied, growling.  
  
~*~Back with Sesshoumaru and Kagome~*~  
  
Kagome yawned, stumbling while she was walking. She and Sesshoumaru had been walking for hours, Sesshoumaru checking a couple of the villages and finding that they were still unharmed from the youkai that was attacking villages.  
  
"Tired?" Sesshoumaru asked, smirking. "You humans."  
  
"It's not my fault you decided to wake up so early to train...." Kagome said sleepily.  
  
"But it is not my fault you can't defend yourself." Sesshoumaru countered. They continued walking for some time, Kagome watched the sky as it turned from a clear blue to a bunch of oranges, reds, pinks and purples.  
  
"Sesshoumaru...when are we stopping for the night?"  
  
"Right now." With that, he wrapped his tail around her and jumped into a tree and rested against the tree.  
  
"Ummm....this probably isn't good for my fear of heights...." Kagome said, trying not to look down. Even thought the feeling in her stomach wasn't from her fear of heights.  
  
"I won't have you sleeping on the ground with a rampant youkai running around. Focus on something else." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome found something to focus on, the sunset. It was beautiful. Soon the sun set and the stars started to come out, Kagome pointed out a couple starts she knew.  
  
"I can never see the stars like this at home." Kagome said, talking about all the lights around her home.  
  
"Your home?" Sesshoumaru asked. A sudden gust of breeze made Kagome shiver, Sesshoumaru wrapped his tail around her tighter and brought her to rest against his chest.  
  
"My home is far away." Kagome said, she suddenly wasn't tired and decided to explain that she lived 500 years in the future. Before she could even start to describe some of the things in her time she yawned and snuggled into his tail, falling into a deep sleep. ~*~Next Morning~*~  
  
Shippou and Kirara awoke to a beautiful dawn, the morning light painted the skies, while tiny drops of dew clung to every flower petal. Sango had been woken up and now Miroku beared a red hand-print of his foolishness.  
  
Five miles away, Sesshoumaru and Kagome awoke to the same sunrise.  
  
"Did you sleep well miko?" Sesshoumaru asked, his tail still wrapped around her.  
  
"Yup." Kagome said, then she 'eeped' when Sesshoumaru jumped from the tree and let her go from his tail.  
  
"Shall we then?" Sesshoumaru said, walking, Kagome caught up to him and happily walked next to the Taiyoukai.  
  
The finally arrived at the village that had been attacked by the youkai. Kagome gasped at the extent of the damage, houses were totally destroyed and the crop fields had been torn up. There were still some loose chickens and horses who's sables had been destroyed.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Thank you for coming Sesshoumaru-sama." Kagome looked at the eldery man bowing at the Taiyoukai. He had a wound on his shoulder which looked pretty bad, Kagome also noticed many of the other villagers had wounds.  
  
"I would like to help bandage the villager's wounds." Kagome said, looking from the old man to Sesshoumaru, who nodded. Kagome first went to check the village's supply and found them low, after convicing another girl to help her pick plants that helped with wounds, Kagome was off helping people.  
  
"What kind of youkai attacked the village?" Sesshoumaru asked the old man while walking through the village, survaning the damage.  
  
"We are not altogether sure, we know it was some kind of rodent....maybe a badger youkai or a weasel youkai...." The old man said, then he turned to the Taiyoukai with a worried look.  
  
"Ummm....Sesshoumaru-sama, I'm afriad we won't be able to pay you as much....because all of our crops were destroyed and-"  
"Sesshoumaru! I finished bandaging the villagers but I want to do more..." Kagome looked at the old man's worried face with concern "...what's the matter?"  
  
"We may not be able to pay Sesshoumaru-sama because all our crops were destroyed by the youkai and most of the livestock were killed." The old man said.  
  
"I'm sure we can work something out." Sesshoumaru said. "Come Kagome, we are going to hunt down the youkai that destroys what is mine." Kagome bowed to the man and followed Sesshoumaru out of the village.  
  
"Wow...I didn't know people had to pay you." Kagome said.  
  
"All Taiyoukai's have taxes, most of the yen goes back to the village in the form of livestock or land." Sesshoumaru explained.  
  
~*~Back with Sango and co.~*~  
  
"I'm hungry." Shippou whined from on top of Miroku's head.  
  
"We could stop for a quick break, I'm somewhat hungry myself." The monk said. Sango nodded and sat down, Kirara mewed and started playing with Shippou. Miroku leaned against a tree while Sango looked through her pack.  
  
"All we have left is some of Kagome's food." Sango said, pulling out a container of Ramen  
  
"It says we need to bring a pot of water to boil, Shippou, could you and Kirara go find some water?" The fox and cat nodded and ran off.  
  
Sango leaned over to pick up a stick. "We're going to need a fir..." The huntress whipped around and slapped the monk, his hand wandering again.  
  
~*~  
  
"What was that?" Kagome asked, having heard something that was oddly familiar....  
  
"Sounded like someone getting slapped." Sesshoumaru said, Kagome's face lit up.  
"I bet it's Sango and Miroku, can we....please?" Kagome asked, giving Sesshoumaru puppy eyes. Kagome was sure Rin used that look on him, so what could it hurt to try. Sesshoumaru finally gave in and walked towards the sound.  
  
~*~  
  
"PERVERT!" Sango yelled.  
  
"It's no my fault Sango, my hand is cursed." Sango scowled and turned away, looking in the opposite direction of the monk, who was rubbing his cheek. Something caught Sango's eye and she turned, gasping.  
  
"Sesshou-Sesshoumaru!" Sango said, grabbing her boomerang, Miroku grabbed his staff and turned to face the Taiyoukai, Sesshoumaru held his hand up and sighed.  
  
"Put your weapons down. It would be a waste of my time to fight you." The Taiyoukai said, glaring at the humans.  
  
"Where's Kagome?" Shippou growled.  
  
"Shippou-chan!" Suddenly the fox kit was picked up and hugged like a favorite stuffed animal.  
  
"Kagome-chan!" Sango and Miroku joined the group hug, squeezing Shippou until he turned blue. Then Miroku let his hand wander and the monk was rewarded with another handprint on his face.  
  
For awhile the group sat and talked, Sango sat between Kagome and Miroku, Shippou was in Kagome's lap while Sesshoumaru was watching the clouds pass overhead. Miroku got the job of telling Kagome about Inuyasha and Kikyo.  
  
"Would you all like some dinner?" Kagome asked, wanting to get off the subject of Inuyasha. Shippou nodded and ran off with Kirara to get some water while Kagome re-read the instuctions on the Ramen package.  
  
"That smells yummy!" Shippou chirped while the noodles cooked.  
  
"Another couple minutes." Kagome replied, stirring the noodles. When the noodles were done she served everyone and looked at Sesshoumaru. "Would you like some?" She asked.  
  
"I don't eat human food." Sesshoumaru answered, having smelled the noodles a long time ago.  
  
"But I've never seen you eat anything!" Kagome said.  
  
"You wake up to late in the morning." The Taiyoukai replied, then he turned back and continued to watch the clouds. After everyone was done Kagome cleaned up, even though Sango said she would. "We must hunt down that youkai that has attacked what is mine." Sesshoumaru said, interrupting the peace.  
  
"Can the others come too? Please Sesshoumaru?" Kagome gave him another puppy dog eye look. "Sango's a youkai hunter, she could help."  
  
"The huntress' family hunted on my lands once. I am well aware of what she is." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"Can they come?" Kagome asked again. Sesshoumaru finally nodded and headed South, Kirara changed into her bigger form and everyone climbed aboard the cat youkai and followed the Taiyoukai.  
  
"When did Sesshoumaru tolerate humans?" Miroku asked, Sesshoumaru gave him a glare, able to hear the monk's question. Sango just shrugged her shoulders.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Hope you liked!  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Shadownekko: Yup, Ice-Prince is a great word for Sesshou-chan. I'll have to add that somewhere.....  
  
FaintedFairy: For a German your pretty good at English! I know, in the anime and manga, Inuyasha isn't that stupid, but I like Sesshoumaru better so I purposely make Inuyasha looks stupid. Glad you like the story!  
  
Inu-YashaForever: I'm glad you like the story!  
  
Sukera: What about sugar-free candy? Can you have that? *hands out sugar- free candy* Hope you make it through Lent!  
  
Eddie4: I know, Sesshoumaru is going a bit soft. Don't worry, I think he gets meaner soon....I think...I'd have to go back and look.....  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: I'll try to update ASAP!  
  
Tbiris: Kikyo's up to no good, I'll give you that much.  
  
Kariisme: I'll try to update, I'm glad you like!  
  
Hieiandbotan4ever: I'm beginning to think Sesshoumaru lives off tea as well..... 


	8. Kagome and Kikyo, Kidnaped!

Disclaimer: Me no own.  
  
~*~Last time:"What if you were without your bow or a sword?" "I'd pick up a stick and use it for a weapon." "Real swords can cut through bone without much effort, you really think a stick would hold up against one?"All Taiyoukai's have taxes, most of the yen goes back to the village in the form of livestock or land." "PERVERT!" "When did Sesshoumaru tolerate humans?"~*~  
  
~*~Chapter 8: Kagome and Kikyo, Kidnaped!~*~  
  
Inuyasha and Kikyo awoke to a grey dawn, the sun was barely shining through the dark clouds that promised rain. Sure enough a large raindrop landed on Inuyasha's nose, he growled and took off the outer layer of his fire rat kimono and put it over Kikyo's head. Kikyo smiled and put half of Inuyasha's kimono on his own head, forcing them closer together. Inuyasha gladly shared the makeshift unmrella and the pair continued on, heading West. One of Inuyasha's dog ears was sticking out of the kimono.  
  
It was getting wet.  
  
~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru was the first one up, as usual. The Taiyoukai scowled at the unfortunate event of rain and stood under a tree to keep dry. The others woke soon enough, the rain waking them up. Soon the group was off, but not after Miroku had done something stupid again.  
  
Kagome stopped and opened her yellow backpack that Sango and Miroku had brought and took out two bright pink umbrellas. She handed one to Sango, who gladly shared it with Miroku, her boomerang between his hand and her. Kagome opened the other umbrella and held it over Sesshoumaru's head.  
  
"Why are you sharing this.....thing with me?" He asked, looking down at her and then back up at the annoying pink umbrella.  
  
"Because I wouldn't want your tail to get too wet." Kagome replied, smiling at him. Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes and continued walking.  
  
Shippou was asleep on Miroku's shoulder, Kirara on Sango's. Once in awhile the fox kit would start to roll off and the monk would have to save the Shippou from landing in the mud. With all the rain it was hard for Sesshoumaru to use his sense of smell to track the youkai that had attacked the village.  
"What are we going to do when we find the youkai?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Destroy it." Sesshoumaru answered, as though the answer should have been obvious.  
  
"But what if we can't find it?"  
  
"I never let my prey get away."  
  
The continued walking for awhile, the rain starting to get heavier than it had been before. Kagome's arm was getting tired from holding the umbrella above her's and Sesshoumaru's head, he being taller than her. Not to mention her arms were still a bit sore from sword fighting.  
  
'I think my arm is going to fall off....it's already gone numb.' Kagome's arm started shaking from not moving for so long. As if reading her mind, Sesshoumaru wrapped his tail around the umbrella's handle, holding it above him and Kagome. She sighed in relief when she put her arm down, blood rushing to the abused limb.  
  
"Isn't that cute?" Sango whispered to Miroku, they were walking behind Kagome and the Taiyoukai. Sesshoumaru gave them another glare, but did nothing. Then to the Miroku's surprise, Sango grabbed his hand and continued walking.  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning brought sunshine to the soaked land. Kagome woke up earlier than everyone, except Sesshoumaru. Kagome was now beginning to think the Taiyoukai never slept either.  
  
"What's for breakfast?" Shippou asked, looking at Kagome with still tired eyes.  
  
"We don't have anymore Raman left, there's fish in the river but that might take awhile to catch." Kagome said, digging through her backpack.  
  
Sesshoumaru suddenly appeared from the woods, when he had left Kagome will never know, but in his hand was a rabbit.  
  
"Eat quickly, we have to trail the youkai before the rain washes away the rest of it's scent." Sesshoumaru said, tossing the rabbit at Kagome.  
"Eeeeewwwwww!" Kagome cried out, jumping away from the rabbit. Sango, Miroku and Shippou held in a laugh and the monk decided he should cook it.  
  
~*~  
  
The weasel youkai jumped at Kagome, fangs bared. Sango's huge boomerang knocked it aside but the weasel didn't seem injured. They had found the weasel youkai that attacked the village half a hour ago, and still the battle raged on.  
  
Sango threw her boomerang at the huge weasel again and it just bounced off the youkai's thick fur. Sesshoumaru had been watching and finally decided to end the fight, the humans were starting to wear out.  
  
Sesshoumaru jumped into the air and attacked the youkai with Toukijin, the weasel screamed and dropped to the ground, a tiny Shikon Shard flew into the air.  
  
"A Shikon Shard?!" Kagome gasped, she hadn't even felt the presence of the Shikon Shard. Sesshoumaru reached up and grabbed the tiny fragment between his fingers.  
  
"I believe this should go into your care." The Taiyoukai handed the shard to Kagome and continued walking. Kagome quickly caught up to Sesshoumaru and looked at him. He looked down at her questionly. "What?"  
  
"N..nothing....but I thought all youkai wanted the Shikon Jewel, when you caught the shard, I though you might have kept it." Kagome said.  
  
"I have no need for something like the Shikon, it only corrupts the user and it is openly saying that you are weak."  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Youkai go after the Jewel to increase their power, but anyone who needs the help of the Jewel is saying that they are weak."  
  
~*~  
  
The group stopped for a quick lunch nearby a river. Shippou and Sango came back with some fish and Kagome started a fire. Sesshoumaru stood away from the group, staring at the clouds.  
"Lunch is ready!" Kagome chirped, everyone except Sesshoumaru grabbed a fish and started eating.  
  
Suddenly Sesshoumaru growled and drew Toukijin. Everyone saw this and tensed, ready for whatever was going to come.  
  
"What is it Sesshoumaru-sama?" Miroku whispered, his staff ready.  
  
"Inuyasha." As if on cue, Inuyasha burst out from the treetops, Tetsusaiga in its true form. Kikyo soon followed, giving death glares to Sango, Miroku and Kagome. Everyone was fully returning the death glares to the dead miko.  
  
"Sesshoumaru! You bastard!" Inuyasha yelled as he swung at Sesshoumaru's head, the Taiyoukai calmly dodged his younger brother's attack.  
  
"Why so angry this time little brother?" Sesshoumaru asked, even though he already knew what Inuyasha wanted.  
  
"Give Kagome back! You stole her! You stupid bastard!" Inuyasha yelled.  
  
"I don't think Kagome wants to go back to a hanyou like yourself. One that chooses a dead miko over a live one." The Taiyoukai said as calmly as ever, his mask of indifference on, but Kagome could see pure hatred in his eyes.  
  
"Kagome is mine! She's Kikyo's reincarnation, which makes her mine!" Inuyasha swung at Sesshoumaru again, Sesshoumaru dodged and blocked every attack Inuyasha threw at him.  
  
Kagome however.....  
  
"I AM NOT YOURS!!!!!!!! I AM NOT HER-"Kagome pointed at Kikyo, murder in her eyes, "-REINCARNATION! I AM KAGOME! KA-GO-ME!!! NO ONE ELSE!!!" Kagome yelled, hate burning in her eyes.  
  
"I don't care!" Inuyasha yelled back, looking not unfazed by Kagome's 'speech'. He barely blocked Sesshoumaru's attack. Sango pulled Kagome back before her friend tried rip Inuyasha apart.  
  
"It's alright Kagome-chan. Let Sesshoumaru-sama deal with it." Sango said, patting Kagome's shoulder. Kagome nodded and stood behind the monk and youkai hunter.  
  
All of them failed to notice that someone was watching them.  
  
"........I shall use this to my advantage......." With that, Naraku unleashed his poison, quickly knocking the humans unconscious. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru started coughing, when the poison cleared, Naraku had both Kagome and Kikyo in his arms.  
  
"NARAKU!" The brother's yelled at the same time. Naraku laughed and started to fly away on a cloud of his poison. Sesshoumaru's eye's turned red and the strips on his face turned jagged-  
  
"I wouldn't try that Sesshoumaru." A voice called from above. Sesshoumaru stopped his transformation and looked at his new opponent. Kaugra landed, her fan poised at ready. Sesshoumaru re-drew Toukijin while Kaugra laughed and sent blades of wind at the brothers.  
  
"Hahahaha." Kaugra laughed and took a feather out of her hair, and in a blink of an eye, she was up in the air, far out of reach on her feather.  
  
"Come back here! Give me back Kikyo! And Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled into the sky. Suddenly Inuyasha turned to his older brother, who was calmly looking in the direction that Naraku had gone. "This is all your fault Sesshoumaru!"  
  
"Pardon?" Sesshoumaru asked, giving his younger brother a glare that said 'die' all over it.  
  
"I said 'This is all your fault!' if you hadn't taken Kagome-"  
  
"Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru said very calmly, too calmly for anyone's comfort. Then the group saw something that Sesshoumaru hadn't done in over 200 years.  
  
He lost his temper.  
  
There was a sudden snap and a tree behind the Taiyoukai snapped, another tree snapped and Inuyasha had to jump out of the way to avoid being squished by the tree. More trees fell from Sesshoumaru's whip and claws. The Taiyoukai's eyes were blood red with hate and rage.  
  
"You bastard hanyou." Sesshoumaru said calmly, regaining some control. Inuyasha yelled back at his brother, making sure he was out of range of his older brother's whip.  
  
"Miroku. You're wounded from Kaugra's wind." Sango said, shaking from the Taiyoukai's outburst. She had never seen him destroy things because he was upset. What was worse, Sango nor Miroku had ever seen his eyes turn that shade of red before.  
  
"Sango....." Miroku said, taking the huntresses arm, Sango gasped, she hadn't even felt Kaugra's wind blades hit her. The monk took care of the huntresses injury.  
  
Meanwhile the brothers were fighting, both with words and swords. Sesshoumaru was winning the insult contest, while attacking Inuyasha with Toukijin. The hanyou was having trouble blocking the full youkai's attacks and was about to attack his older brother when-  
  
"ALRIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" The brothers stopped and looked at Sango, who at the moment, looked scarier than Naraku.  
  
"Sango?...." Miroku was worried about his friend, Shippou was shaking from Sango's outburst and Kirara's ears were folded back.  
  
"I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS IF YOU TWO RIP EACH OTHER APART LATER, BUT RIGHT NOW WE NEED TO SAVE KAGOME! SO PUT YOUR STUPID FEUD ASIDE!" Miroku was there to catch Sango when she fell from yelling so loud.  
  
"Sango...Sango...are you alright?" Miroku asked. Sesshoumaru put Toukijin away, his eyes still blazing. Inuyasha finally put Tetsusaiga away after everyone gave him death glares.  
  
~*~  
  
"Owww....my head...." Kagome moaned, slowly opening her eyes. Her head hurt, her eyes hurt, in face, her whole body hurt.  
  
"Kukukukuku....good, you mikos are finally awake." Kagome's head snapped up and saw Naraku. Her body screamed in protest as she tried to move, then she noticed that she was chained to the wall. When Kagome looked around, she saw Kikyo was chained to the opposite wall as well.  
  
"What the hell do you want with us?!" Kagome growled.  
  
"Tsk, tsk. We shall have to work on your manners." Naraku laughed and looked at both of them. "I could kill you right here and now, but were would the fun in that be? I'd rather have you help me first, then I can kill you."  
  
Kagome growled while Kikyo gave the Naraku one of her famous death glares. "What makes you think we will help you?" Kagome asked, giving the evil hanyou a death glare as well.  
  
"Because you have no choice." Naraku grinned and snapped his fingers, suddenly waves of pain ran through Kagome's body.  
  
"Bastard...." Kagome said weakly, she was sure that whatever it was that was causing her pain, it was probably sapping her energy away as well.  
  
"You both will be used as bait. Kikyo for Inuyasha, as he as thrown you aside." Naraku said, smirking as Kagome's glare when he mentioned Inuyasha. "And Sesshoumaru has become quite protective of you, once they both come, I shall destroy Inuyasha and absorb Sesshoumaru into my body." Naraku finished, walking away and laughing evilly to himself.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Yay! Hope you all liked! Don't forget to review and leave a recommendation! I didn't have one for last week.....  
  
~*~Recommendation~*~  
  
I Must be Sick by Shichan2 It's a great story! Rin gets sick and Sesshoumaru asks Kagome to heal Rin. Sparks fly and....well...I'm not going to tell you, you'll just have to go and read it!  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Sukera: Poor you. At least you didn't give up the computer or reading stories!  
  
HieilovesBotan: He's a big softly on the inside, he just doesn't like to admit it.  
  
RoquesHeart: COOKIES!!!!! I luv cookies! Yay for cookies! No walnuts/almonds/pecans cookies, I don't like those. COOKIES!!  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: I'm glad you like the story! Thanks for your review!  
  
Tbiris: Thanks for the review!  
  
Sahuroh-SaffronSama: I'll continue, you don't need to worry about that.  
  
Eddie4: Sesshou-chan won't get meaner....Inu-chan might though. But if anything, Sesshou-chan is going to get nicer.  
  
Kariisme: Well, Inu-chan is still alive, if Sesshou-chan doesn't kill him. And Kikyo's still alive....hopefully not for long. Kagome does get stronger, don't worry about that.  
  
Shippou's Acorns: Yup, Inu-chan is pretty stupid, at least in this story. Kikyo should have stayed dead, I hate Kikyo....she must die. 


	9. On The Hunt

Disclaimer: Err....I'm just borrowing them and making them go through hell for your enjoyment.  
  
WD: Hello again, I currently have 63 reviews for The Other Taiyoukai, I'm really hoping to beat my old record (before I took the story down to redo it) of 102 reviews. But I love all you guys...and girls...for reviewing! Thanks so much! Okay...enough with the sap, on to the story!  
  
~*~Chapter 9: On The Hunt~*~  
  
Kagome struggled for a long time after she and Kikyo had been kidnaped by Naraku. At first Kagome tried to break the chains that kept her against the wall, but finally stopped after getting shocked many times. Her energy depleted, she fell into a much needed sleep.  
  
Kagome was on a peaceful hilltop watching Rin chase butterflies. The grass was green and springtime flowers bloomed around her.  
  
"Kagome-chan! Rin caught one Kagome-chan!" Rin started to run towards Kagome with her prize in cupped hands.  
  
Then Kagome's dream turned into a nightmare.  
  
Suddenly the field of flowers turned into a blood stained battleground, all the flowers wilted and died and rich green grass turned into a dead brown. Instead of a clear blue sky, the air around Kagome turned into a black sky, filled with the feeling of blood and death.  
  
"Rin? Rin?" Kagome called out.  
  
"K..Kagome-chan?" Rin's voice called out, but it wasn't the chirping cheerful tone the seven year old usually had. Rin now sounded weak and hurt. Kagome tired to get up and found that her legs couldn't move, again and again she tried to get up, and again and again she found her legs not moving.  
  
"Rin?!" Kagome cried out again, looking around. Then she saw two blue orbs floating around the field, as if they were chasing each other happily. Then the blue orbs faded and Kagome was left alone on the battlefield in her dream.  
  
~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru continued giving Inuyasha death glares, the hanyou fully returning them. Sango had yelled at the brothers again, telling them to stop acting like little kids. Finally Kirara stood between the brothers, ready to carry one off.  
  
"I don't think Sango's words worked, Inuyasha's just too much of a kid." Shippou commented from atop Miroku's head. Inuyasha turned around and was about to whack Shippou upside the head when the fox kit jumped onto Sesshoumaru's tail and hung on for dear life. Sesshoumaru looked at Shippou for a moment, and much to everyone's surprise, continued walking.  
  
"Come here you little brat! I'm going to beat your head in!" Inuyasha was going to beat Shippou up, wheither or not he was hiding in Sesshoumaru's tail. He was about to pounce when Sesshoumaru interrupted.  
  
"Touch the fox and you will die." The Taiyoukai said, giving Inuyasha a glare that said that he would go through with his words too. Shippou smiled and made himself comfortable in Sesshoumaru's tail, happily falling asleep.  
  
The group continued walking, Sesshoumaru walking in front, tracking Kagome's scent, then Sango and Miroku, who, over the past few days became very close. Now Sango only blushed and whacked Miroku upside the head playfully whenever he did something perverted. Lastly came Inuyasha, who was sulking and mumbling to himself, ears flat on his head.  
  
"Sesshoumaru, are you and Kagome going to get married?" Shippou asked suddenly. Inuyasha growled, Sango and Miroku gasped and Sesshoumaru looked taken aback, then smirked at the child's innocence.  
  
"Do you really think that I, Sesshoumaru, would fall in love with a human?" He answered, although in the back of his mind Sesshoumaru was thinking differently. 'She's not just a human to me anymore. Not after I took her in anyway.'  
  
"I think you should, then I'll have a new dad!" Shippou chirped. Shippou had never feared the Taiyoukai, even during the battles with Inuyasha.  
  
'I'm sure Rin wouldn't mind having a new mom, or a brother....' Sesshoumaru thought, 'a mom would keep Rin busy.....'  
  
"Jaken better be keeping Rin out of trouble." Sesshoumaru growled quietly.  
  
"Who's Rin?" Shippou whispered.  
  
"A female of your age." Sesshoumaru was deep in though- was her really in love with the human called Kagome. Surely he, the Taiyoukai of the West Lands, wasn't in love with a human. He would not follow in his father's footsteps and fall for a human. His father had done that once, and had killed his mother in the process, Sesshoumaru's eyes darkened when he thought of his mother.  
  
But still......  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, might we stop for the night?" Sesshoumaru looked behind him, ready to behead the huntress for interrupting his thoughts. He though better of it and looked at the humans, both the huntress and the monk were looked worn out. Inuyasha didn't look too much better, not many could keep up with the Taiyoukai's endurance.  
  
Sesshoumaru nodded and Shippou jumped out of his tail to chase Kirara around. The cat and fox chased each other for awhile as the Sango and Miroku caught some fish for dinner.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome was standing in a battlefield, bodies lay everywhere and the ground was dark from blood. Then she saw Kouga fighting Kaugra, the wolf youkai was losing badly.  
  
"Kouga!" Kagome ran to help the wolf youkai when Kaugra sent a huge wave of wind blades at the wolf. Kouga was weak and couldn't dodge the blades and fell onto the ground. "Kouga!" Kagome cried out, reaching her friend and turning him over.  
  
"K..Kagome?" Kouga said weakly, looking up at her.  
  
"Kouga, don't move....I-"  
  
"I couldn't avenge my allies....but I'm sure that they'll forgive me." Kouga said, coughing up blood. "I'm sorry I couldn't kill Naraku for you Kagome..."  
  
"It's alright Kouga...I-Kouga! Kouga!" Kagome cried out her friends name again, but couldn't do anything as the wolf youkai died. Kagome turned around and saw her friends fighting a wave of youkai.  
  
"Miroku! Don't open your Kazaana! You'll be poisoned!" Sango cried out, running to Miroku, who was surrounded by youkai and Naraku's poisonous insects.  
  
"I have to Sango!" The monk yelled back. Miroku undid the prayer beads and unleashed his wind tunnel, drawing in hundreds of youkai and the poisonous wasps.  
  
"Miroku!" Sango cried out, running to the monk that now lay on the ground. "Miroku!"  
  
"I'm sorry Sango, I had to...."  
  
"But you drew in all the wasp's vemon." Sango said sadly.  
  
"I know....but I did it to protect you...." Miroku said weakly.  
  
"Miroku!!" Sango cried out, tears in the huntresses eyes. Suddenly she fell on top of the monk as something ripped through her body. Weakly Sango looked up and saw her younger brother's weapon in her back.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome awoke suddenly, her body covered in a sheen of cold sweat. That nightmare had been too real for her, she could almost smell the rusty taste of blood from her friend's bodies.  
  
"Nightmare?" Kikyo asked Kagome with a sneer on her face, and if Kagome could, she would have liked to rip that smile of Kikyo's face....along with the rest of the dead miko's head. Sadly, Kagome was still chained to the wall. Kikyo gave Kagome one of her infamous death glares, while Kagome returned the glare fully.  
  
"Well...I see my mikos are up." A dark voice said, Kagome and Kikyo looked up at Naraku, who had just come by. "I'm sure you two are hungry." Naraku smiled and set down a plateful of food, just out of reach of the two mikos.  
  
"Naraku, you bastard." Kagome growled, once again she was rewarded with a jolt of pain and some of her energy leaving her.  
  
"If you can reach the food, you can eat. However....if you cannot...." With that Naraku left. Kikyo looked at the food and then looked at Kagome.  
"Stop looking at me! What do you want me to do?" Kagome growled. Kikyo looked away and closed her eyes, going to sleep and leaving Kagome alone.  
  
The food sat there for half a hour while Kagome tried to think of way to get to it. Then it hit her. Soon she sat barefoot on the ground.  
  
'If I can't reach it with my hands......' Kagome thought, streching her feet until it reached the plateful of food. Slowly and carefully, Kagome wrapped her toes around the edge of the plate and carefully brought in reach of her hands.  
  
When Kikyo woke up she saw the plateful of food in the middle of the cell, out of reach. Only....the plate was empty. Across from her sat Kagome, staring at the wall next to her.  
  
"Wench! What happened to all the food?" Kikyo growled.  
  
Kagome burped in response.  
  
"It's not my fault you fell asleep instead of ate." Kagome said, sneering at the dead miko. Kikyo gave Kagome another 'Kikyo death glare' while Kagome gave Kikyo a 'Sesshoumaru death glare/evil smirk'.  
  
Sesshoumaru would have been proud.  
  
~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru sat in a tree, looking at the stars and trying to get some rest. Even he had to sleep sometimes. Shippou was in his tail again, mumbling about Kagome and something called chocolate. Sango and Miroku were sleeping side by side, Sango using one of Kagome's sleeping bags that she had given the huntress. Miroku still slept against at tree, but now he choose the tree closest to Sango. Sesshoumaru frowned, now not being able to get to sleep because of Inuyasha's mumbling about Kikyo.  
  
Suddenly Sesshoumaru heard something and jumped out of his tree, dropping Shippou. Inuyasha also heard something and got up as well, hand on Tetsusaiga.  
  
"What was that for?" Shippou asked sleepily, waking up Sango and Miroku.  
  
"Quiet." Sesshoumaru ordered.  
Something was coming.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Hahahahahahaha!!! Love the cliffhangers!! Hate the cliffhangers!! Send in reviews and you'll not have to worry about what happens next!!! *laughs evily, while lightning strikes in the background*  
  
Inuyasha cast: *blink in confusion*  
  
Sesshoumaru: I think she's had a bit too much caffeine.  
  
Sango: I knew we should have switched her regular coffee with decaf.  
  
WD: Oh yeah, I forgot, don't forget to send in recommendations! And also, I'm only going to answer to the newest chapter reviews, like next time, I'll respond to all the reviews for Chapter 9, but not 8 or lower, I don't have that much time.  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: Thanks! I'm glad you like the story!  
  
RoquesHeart: I don't like cookies that have nuts in them. I like chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! Yes...I'm a chocolate freak...I admit it...  
  
Silverstargazing: You can't kill Naraku yet, I still need him for a couple more chapters.  
  
HieilovesBotan: Thanks for catching me! I suck at spelling by the way. If you find any more mistakes feel free to correct me!  
  
D2k3001: Sesshou-chan isn't one to show or tell about his feelings. But I'm sure he'll get around to it....hopefully, but it might take awhile.  
  
Eddie4: Yup, I like Sesshou-chan being nicer, but still having that evil side about him.  
  
Emowyen: Sesshou-chan isn't one to turn into a complete sap. But he'll get nicer, slowly. I try to keep him as much as himself as possible.  
  
Sukera: You can make it! Easter isn't that far away! Then you can feast on candy and sugar until you get sick! Or not.....  
  
Kariisme: I've gotten threats before to update my story. I'm not new to threats on destroying things or giving me bodily harm. That's okay though! I'll update ASAP! 


	10. Memories

Disclaimer: Errr....let me check.......lint, an evil little sister....4 cats....more lint...nope...no Inu-chan.  
  
WD: Okay...about the late updates.....don't hurt me! It's not my fault...well...it kinda is...because I should be writing when I'm playing games and stuff like that....but then I have to send it off to my beta readers who correct (most) of the spelling mistakes and tell me how to improve it. And lately....they've been really really slow on replying to my chapters. So you can go yell at them...I'll even give you a large bag of rotten tomatoes to throw at their house.  
  
~*~Chapter 10: Memories~*~  
  
Kagome sat in a huge field of flowers, the sky was a clear blue. She was at peace, the air around her was clean and sweet smelling.  
  
"Kagome-chan!" Kagome looked towards the sound. Getting up, she followed the sound into a forest.  
  
"Kagome!" Kagome whirled around, having heard Shippou cry out. He sounded panicked and Kagome started to run through the forest. Suddenly she was in a clearing, watching a battle progress. Kagome gagged, the smell of death was all around her. The air no longer a clear blue, but instead black. She looked around and saw Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Sango, Miroku and Kouga fighting a huge Naraku.  
  
"Not again." Kagome said to herself. Naraku was laughing as he held up a now complete Jewel of Four Souls.  
  
"Kukukukuku.......now I have the Jewel and no one can stop me!" Naraku laughed evilly. Before he could do anything with the now complete Shikon No Tama, Inuyasha attacked him. Naraku sent a claw that knocked Inuyasha to the side. Then Sesshoumaru and the rest attacked the now very powerful Naraku. The evil hanyou laughed again, sending pieces of his misshapen body to distract them.  
  
Suddenly a tentacle hit Miroku in the hand, knocking aside the rosary and unleashing his Kazaana. All of Naraku's bees started to fly into the monk's hand.  
  
"Miroku!" Sango ran to help her friend, but before she could reach him, something hit the huntress in the back. Sango looked behind her and saw Kohaku's weapon in hand, her little brother's eyes blank.  
  
Then another tentacle hit Sango, going through her back and coming out her front. Sango gasped before falling onto Miroku's still body. Kirara's eyes blazed with anger and the cat youkai went to bit Naraku's head off. Naraku smirked and caught Kirara in one of his pincers and squeezed. Kirara cried out in pain, blood staining her fur. Kouga went to punch Naraku, the shards in his legs gone. Without his speed Naraku easily wrapped Kouga in tentacles and proceeded to squeeze the breath out of him. Inuyasha was busy hacking away at Naraku's body parts, cuts and wounds covered his body.  
  
"No! Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, she wanted to run to her hanyou friend, but her legs wouldn't move. Then she noticed the huge white dog that stood in Sesshoumaru's place. The crescent moon on the dog's forehead confirmed that it was really Sesshoumaru. The huge dog's hackles were raised to full, poison dripped from the dog's mouth. The great dog youkai ran at Naraku with fury.  
  
Kagome woke suddenly, sweat ran down her face. She looked down and saw her hands shaking.  
  
"Bad dreams?" Kagome looked at the voice with a glare. Kikyo sneered again, then looked at the tray of food that had been left for them. The tray was in the middle of the floor, just out of reach for both of them.  
  
"Food." Kagome said, ripping her socks off.  
  
"What are you doing?" Kikyo asked, watching as Kagome reached out with her foot, then gasped when the young miko brought the plateful of food back to her.  
  
"Eating." Kagome answered, digging into the food. It wasn't good, it tasted a lot like airline food. But it was something.  
  
"You wench! Hand it over." Kikyo growled.  
  
"Why? You don't need it, you're already dead." Kagome said. Kikyo gave Kagome a 'Kikyo death glare' while Kagome replied with a 'Sesshoumaru evil smirk'. Kagome left one grain of rice and threw the tray at Kikyo, the empty plate landing at the dead miko's feet.  
  
Then Kanna came in with a bored expression on her face, her mirror in her arms. Kagome was surprised when the girl unlocked Kikyo and led her out. Before the dead miko left she gave Kagome one last glare. After some time Kagome finally fell asleep.  
  
She was beginning to think her food was drugged.  
  
~*~  
  
"What is it?" Shippou asked nervously, looking at the bushes ahead of him while hiding behind Kirara.  
Suddenly a little girl ran out of the bushes and wrapped herself around Sesshoumaru's leg.  
  
"Rin." Sesshoumaru said, trying to sound bored but was quite surprised by the child's appearance. "Rin, what are you doing here? I told Jaken to watch you."  
  
"But Rin got tired of waiting for Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-chan so Rin took Ah-Un and looked for Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin chirped, a large two headed dragon lumbered out of the forest, bowing to its master and then settling down.  
  
"Hi." Shippou said shyly to Rin, who looked at the fox kit.  
  
"Hi. Rin's name is Rin. What's your name? You have a tail like Sesshoumaru-sama's. Want to play?"  
  
"My name is Shippou. And I'm a fox, not a dog." Shippou said, then the two children started to chase each other around Ah-Un, who was content watching them.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome was in a very large room, full of books she hadn't heard of. Scrolls and papers littered the floor, there were a couple chairs, but most of them were covered in papers as well. In her hands was a large, leather- bound book. It suddenly flipped open to a poem and Kagome started to read.  
  
All is lost if they cannot find A way to fight together A new evil approaches Darker than the night sky. Blood and Death follow in its path Leaving nothing behind Except sorrow. Skies change color The golden color of the sunrise Now a blood spilled red. The splash of colors during sunset No longer a painting to see. Spring rain showers bring rusty blood All will die unless A hope shows its face Like the sun through the clouds All shall die if one does not change  
  
Before Kagome could get any farther she was running through a forest. Only the forest was a lot smaller than it had been before. She looked down and gasped, she had paws! She felt herself stop near a lake and looked at her reflection in awe, it-  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome heard someone slide open the door and looked at the person who had come in, expecting Naraku or Kanna. Kagome was surprised to see Kohaku holding a food tray.  
  
"Ko...Kohaku?" Kagome whispered to herself. Sango's younger brother opened her cell and put the tray down, his eyes showing no life.  
  
"Kohaku! Wake up!" Kagome said to the child, he turned to leave when Kagome got an idea. "Sango and Kirara have been looking for you, Sango misses you Kohaku." The boy turned around and looked at Kagome.  
  
"That's right, your sister has been looking for you, don't you remember her Kohaku? Sango?" Kagome said. Kokahu looked at her, a little bit of life coming back to his eyes.  
  
-Flashback-  
  
A younger Kokahu chased Kirara around, the cat youkai always just out of his reach. Sango looked at them, laughing.  
  
"Kirara, come back here!" Kokahu laughed. The little fire cat just mewed and continued running from Kokahu, sometimes jumping on the boy's head.  
  
~*~  
  
Kokahu and Sango were sitting and talking, Sango petting Kirara.  
  
"Sis, what kinds of youkai do we fight?" Kokahu asked, a bit nervous.  
  
"Just spiders and centipedes and lower youkai like that. Father says the most dangerous kind of youkai is the kind that takes the form of humans. Are you scared?" Sango asked her little brother. He nodded.  
  
"I am...a little bit I guess." Kokahu said.  
  
"That's okay, we're all a little nervous before fighting. But we're never alone, we always fight together with Father and rest of the villagers. You'll never be alone." Sango said.  
  
-End Flashback-  
  
Kagome smiled as she saw a little bit more life come into Kohaku's eyes. She was about to continued when Naraku came in. Kohaku turned and left, his eyes back to a blank stare. The evil hanyou watched the boy leave then turned to Kagome, smirking.  
  
"My dear miko, did you know that your friends are walking into a death trap as we speak?" Naraku enjoyed the look of fear on Kagome's face and continued. "They should reach their deaths tomorrow, if we're lucky." Naraku laughed and walked out. Kagome felt tears well up in her eyes, not wanting to fall asleep now that her dreams were turning into nightmares.  
  
~*~  
  
The next afternoon, Kokahu came back with more food. Just as he was going to leave, Kagome started talking about Sango again. Kokahu turned around once again and listened to Kagome talk about his sister that he had forgotten about. Kagome talked about Sango's battles and that she was really good with her boomerang, then Kagome talked about Kirara.  
  
Kagome talked for nearly a hour, then suddenly ran out of things to talk about. She was glad to see Kokahu's eyes were slowly coming back to life. But once she stopped, they turned back into a blank stare.  
  
"Is that all?" Kokahu said, getting up to leave. Then Kagome remembered that Kohaku had been told to kill Rin, but didn't.  
  
"Rin." Kagome said simply. The boy in front of her turned sharply and was about to say something when Naraku came again. Kokahu left, leaving Kagome to deal with Naraku alone.  
  
"Your friends are about to be killed, then, little miko, you shall be mine and only mine. Your friends will be nothing but bloody piles of bones." Naraku said, grinning evilly.  
  
"You lie." Kagome hissed, trying to hold back tears.  
  
"Oh but I'm not little miko." From behind his back, Kanna appeared with her mirror. Kagome watched in horror as swarms of youkai were headed towards a village. Two of Naraku's puppets were leading the mass of youkai, swarms of poison wasps followed. The picture in the mirror turned to Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Sango and the others walking closer to the village the swarm of youkai were headed.  
  
"No......" Kagome whispered. Naraku laughed and walked out, Kanna following. Kagome felt tears run down her cheek. There was no way they could beat all those youkai, no matter how powerful her friends were. Then a finger wiped the tear away. Kagome looked up and saw Kokahu crouched next to her, least to say the miko was quite surprised.  
  
"Tell me more about Rin." Kokahu said, sitting down across from Kagome.  
  
"Oh...." Kagome nodded and started talking about Rin, Kokahu's eyes once again started to come back to life. Kagome left out Sesshoumaru, knowing that the Taiyoukai was about to kill him for hurting Rin. Kokahu had more flashbacks of he and Rin sitting in the tiny house eating melon together, Rin asking questions non-stop.  
  
When Kagome had finished, Kokahu got up. Kagome thought that he was going to leave her along again when he handed her a key.  
  
"Run." Was all the boy said. Kagome was amazed and thankful at the same time. She unlocked the chains holding her to the wall and ran, Kokahu showing her the way out.  
  
~*~  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, can we stop for the night?" Sango asked the Taiyoukai. They had been tracking Kagome's scent for nearly six hours strait. Rin and Shippou still had plenty of energy left, chasing each other around Ah-Un.  
  
"There is a village another mile up. We will stop there." Everyone nodded except Inuyasha, who was still sulking behind.  
  
When they finally reached the village, the village chief walked up to welcome them.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, what brings you to our little village." The old man bowed deeply, as did anyone nearby.  
  
"I require a place for the night." Sesshoumaru said. The man was all to happy to let the Taiyoukai and the others stay in the largest house in the village. Dinner was served as soon as Sesshoumaru called for food.  
  
"Will you bear my child?" Miroku asked one the chief's daughters and was promptly whacked on the head by Sango.  
  
"Sango, you should know that you're the only woman I want to be with." Miroku said, taking Sango's hands in his own.  
  
"Then why do you keep asked other woman to bear your child?" Sango asked.  
  
"Out of habit." Miroku smiled, Sango would have smiled as well if the monk's hand had not been on her chest. Miroku finished dinner with a red hand mark on his face.  
  
Sesshoumaru surprised everyone by eating with them. Sango would have thought that he would have eaten somewhere else, far away from Inuyasha.  
  
'Maybe it's Rin.' Sango thought, looking at the seven year old sitting next to her father figure. 'He probably doesn't want to leave her alone.' Rin was happily eating a bowl of noodles, Sesshoumaru on her left side while Shippou was on her right.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, do you-"Miroku was cut off by people screaming. The group rushed out, only to be met by a huge swarm of youkai, two of Naraku's puppets leading them.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Yay! Another chapter done and up! I can't believe I've gotten so many reviews on my stories! I can't thank you guys enough! Oh yes.....Blast From the Past is soooo close to having 100 reviews! Yay! I'm hoping that The Other Taiyoukai will have it's 100 reviews before we're finished with this story. Thanks to all who reviewed!  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Spirit of the anime angel: Cliffhangers are good when you're not reading them....they are fun to write though.  
  
HieilovesBotan: I'm glad you liked....don't worry, I'm sure Kagome will give Kikyo a 'Sesshoumaru' smirk in front of him....that would be funny....  
  
Silverstargazing: Hope that this chapter answered your question. Thanks for you review!  
  
Sukera: I'm sure you can make it! And once Easter comes, you can eat all the sugar and chocolate and more sugar all you want. You should get a big back of plain old white/brown sugar and just eat the whole bag......that's what I would do.......major sugar buzz....  
  
RoguesHeart: CHOCOLATE!!!! *jumps up and down* Chocolate chocolate chocolate chocolate!!!! Yay for chocolate! Sugar! Chocolate!  
  
~*~  
  
WD: Again....sorry for the late update. 


	11. Finding You Again

REASONS FOR NOT UPDATING: SPRING BREAK JUST GOT OVER. BETA READERS ARE SLOW, THERE ARE ONLY 5.5 MORE WEEKS OF SCHOOL. I'M TRYING TO FIND A JOB, I NOW HAVE A BOYFRIEND. I'M 14 AND HAVE WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE RIDING MY BACK. Thank you for listening to me rant.  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, not here not here not here not here *breaks out into song* Ohhhh.....I don't own Inu-chan! I don't own Inu-chan! So please don't sue because then I can't update my stories if I'm in prison.......okay....now that that's out of my system....  
  
~*~Chapter 11: Finding You Again~*~  
  
"What is it Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked, peeking her head out of the house.  
  
"Rin, take Shippou on Ah-Un and leave here." Sesshoumaru said, drawing Toukijin. The little girl nodded and took Shippou's hand and jumped onto the two headed dragon. Ah-Un flew into the air, and away from the battle that was going to take place.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome ran, her chest was on fire and her legs were screaming in protest, sweat covered her entire body.  
  
'Must keep going, can't stop.' Kagome chanted to herself. She had stopped for five minutes by a stream, drinking to replace the energy she had lost in her mad dash away from Naraku's castle. She knew that the water's energy wouldn't last her long, but hopefully it would last her long enough to get as far away as humanly possible.  
  
'Another mile, then I'll stop for another short break.' Kagome said to herself, running harder. She thanked her mother for sighing her up for cross-country in school and continued her pace at a hard jog.  
  
Another mile and a half passed before Kagome collapsed onto the ground, her body dead tired. "I can't keep this up....." Kagome wheezed, trying to get oxygen back into her lungs. "But...I have to keep....going....have to find the others....." Slowly the miko got up and started jogging. Kagome didn't get very far before her body gave out again. Then she saw something in the air, a black dot.  
  
"I really hope it's not Naraku.....why me?" As the dot came closer, Kagome could make out the shape of a two-headed something.  
  
"Kagome-chan!" The person from the thing called out. Then a large two- headed horse like thing landed next to her. A small seven year old girl climbed down, along with a small fox youkai.  
  
"Rin! Shippou!" Kagome said, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, which was pointless, as Rin and Shippou tackled her to the ground in a hug.  
  
"Kagome-chan! Rin missed Kagome-chan and Sesshoumaru-sama! Kagome- chan said that Kagome-chan and Sesshoumaru-sama would only be gone for a couple of days!" Rin chirped, happy as ever.  
  
"Kagome!" Shippou jumped into her arms. "Everyone is fighting and-"  
  
"We have to help them!" Kagome said, getting up rather slowly.  
  
"Ah-Un can help too!" Rin said, climbing back onto the dragon steed. Shippou climbed on behind Rin and Kagome behind him. Her stomach lurched as the beast took to the air.  
  
"Ummm.....Rin, how did you get here without Jaken coming after you?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Kagome-chan can't tell Sesshoumaru-sama, but Rin tied Jaken up and put him in the closest." Rin said.  
  
"Wait a second Rin. You went and snuck out of Sesshoumaru castle? By yourself? Rin, don't ever do that again! If something were to happen to you, I would-"  
  
"Is Kagome-chan mad at Rin?" The child asked, tears starting to brim around her eyes.  
  
"I....no Rin-chan, I'm not mad at you or Shippou. Lets go help the others shall we?"  
  
~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru slashed through two more youkai with Toukijin, growling. Inuyasha was destroying hundreds of youkai with one swing of Tetsusaiga, but 200 more took their place. Sango's boomerang was chopping youkai in half, her sword killing more while she waited for her boomerang to come back. Miroku was having the hardest time, he was unable to use his Kazaana as Naraku had his poison wasps flying everywhere. Kirara was defending the monk, biting the youkai in half with her large cat fangs.  
  
"I'm getting tired Miroku." Sango said warily. With all the walking they had done that day, not to mention the fighting now, both she and Miroku were fighting fatigue and youkai.  
"I know Sango, but we have to keep going, Kagome's life is at stake." Miroku said, cutting more youkai down with his staff. Sesshoumaru was covered in blood, most of it was his enemies's, although even he had a few cuts here and there. The massive amount of youkai was even hurting his stamina.  
  
"Kukukukuku.....Sesshoumaru, you know that your miko is sitting in a cell right now?" Naraku was having fun taunting Sesshoumaru, waiting for him to snap. Inuyasha had snapped long ago, Naraku saying that Kikyo had gone to his side.  
  
"You lie!" Inuyasha said, taking out his anger on the youkai around him. "Kikyo would never do that! And Kagome's mine to save!" The white- haired hanyou yelled.  
  
"Naraku, I will find you and make sure you have the most painful death I can think of and worse." Sesshoumaru answered, continuing to fight his way through the hordes of youkai blocking his path to the two Naraku puppets.  
  
Sesshoumaru's kimono was now a crimson red from all the blood it had collected, his armor had been a dull gray color, now it gleamed with the blood from his enemies. Inuyasha's kimono was a deep red, mostly from the youkai around him, even though a lot of the blood that now colored his kimono was his own.  
  
"Sango! Look out!" Miroku yelled, a youkai running head on towards Sango. Her boomerang busy at the moment and her sword stuck in another youkai in front of her. Sango turned just in time to see the boar youkai get sliced to pieces. The huntress looked around and saw Sesshoumaru's whip come around again to slice another youkai in half, Sango smiled as her boomerang returned to her. She threw it out again immediately and took up her sword again.  
  
Miroku threw out his last scrolls, watching them purify the youkai that they hit. His arms were tiring as he continued to chop youkai in half with his staff, Kirara at his back and Sango at his side. The three formed a circle, watching as the youkai surrounded them.  
  
"Naraku! You bastard!" Inuyasha yelled at the puppets. They both laughed in return, both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were injured, even in Sesshoumaru didn't show it. He redrew his sword again, Inuyasha already attacking one of the puppets. Neither of them noticed Sango and Miroku, who were being closed in on by hundreds of youkai.  
  
"SANGO! MIROKU!" Suddenly a pinkish arrow purified hundreds of youkai before landed on the ground. The monk and huntress looked up to see Kagome sitting on Ah-Un, another arrow knocked and ready. The miko shot it and purified more of the youkai. Sango, Miroku and Kirara started fighting the rest, succeeding in killing the rest of lower youkai.  
"Kagome! You're alive!" Sango hugged Kagome, the miko noticed that her friend was sweaty and covered in blood. Then she turned to Rin, who was taking the muzzles off of Ah-Un, as soon as the dragon's mouths were uncover, they started shooting huge blasts of lightning at the Naraku puppets, blasting one in half.  
  
Sesshoumaru looked in surprise as the puppet that Inuyasha was fighting burst in half by a bolt of lightning.  
  
'That would mean Ah-Un......' The Taiyoukai looked behind him and saw the two headed dragon standing in front of Kagome and her friends. Sesshoumaru also saw Rin there, who gave him a I-know-that-you-told-me-to- stay-put-but-I-missed-you-so-I-came-out-to-find-you look.  
  
"I told her to get away from here." Sesshoumaru said, but was interrupted by Inuyasha, who, after being almost burned to a crispy bit by Sesshoumaru's pet, started to attack the other Naraku puppet. Sesshoumaru attacked it as well, not wanting his little brother to get all the fun.  
  
Kirara finished off the last youkai with a bite from her fangs. Sango and Miroku collapsed, worn out from fighting so much.  
  
"Sango-chan! Miroku-sama!" Kagome yelled, kneeling by her friends. Miroku and Sango smiled.  
  
"Hey there Kagome-chan. Glad to see that you're alright." The monk said before fainting from sheer exhaustion, as did Sango before joining Miroku.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin missed Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin chirped, running up to the Taiyoukai and latching herself onto his tail.  
  
"Rin, what are you doing here, I told you to stay by Ah-Un." Sesshoumaru said. Rin looked up at him and gave him a I-know-you-told-me-to- stay-put-but-I-was-chasing-a-butterfly-so-I-wasn't-really-listening looks.  
  
"Rin is sorry Sesshoumaru-sama, can Rin play with Shippou-chan?" The little girl asked. Without waiting for an answer Rin ran over to Shippou to play tag.  
  
"Glad to see you're still alive." Sesshoumaru said to Kagome as he walked past her. Inuyasha looked at everyone that was still awake and then looked at everyone's wounds.  
  
"We should get back to Kaede's village." The hanyou said Kagome put the still out Sango and Miroku on Kirara while she, Rin and Shippou rode on Ah-Un. Sesshoumaru flew nearby, making sure nothing happened, while Inuyasha ran below, sulking.  
  
~*~  
  
The ragtag ground arrived at Kaede's village around sunset, by now, only Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were still awake. Kagome, Shippou, Rin, Sango and Miroku were sleeping and even Kirara and Ah-Un looked sleepily.  
  
"Wha...where are we?" Kagome yawned, looking around.  
  
"Kagome! What are ye doing here? Is everything alright?" Kaede asked, coming out of her hut. Kagome quickly explained the battle while helping the now somewhat awake Sango and Miroku into the hut.  
  
"Sango-chan, let me look at your wounds. What about you Miroku-sama, are you hurt?" Kagome asked her friends. Miroku shook his head, even though he knew that Kagome would insist that she clean his cuts and bruises.  
  
"Dinner is ready." Kaede said, handed everyone a bowl of stew. Inuyasha sat in one corner, while Sesshoumaru sat by the open door. Rin sat next to her father figure and Shippou sat next to her.  
  
"Hey Sesshoumaru." The Taiyoukai looked at his little brother with narrowed eyes, but Inuyasha didn't see them, instead, the hanyou was looked at Rin. "What's with the human girl?"  
  
"That is none of your concern half-breed." Sesshoumaru growled.  
  
"I mean, you hate humans. And she's what....seven, so she can't be your mate so-"  
  
"Inuyasha, if you continued to talk of Rin that way, I will personally rip your arm off."  
"How, you only have one arm." Inuyasha growled. Everyone looked at him, then to Sesshoumaru, who narrowed his eyes and got up, claws full of poison. Before Sesshoumaru could lay waste to Inuyasha and whoever else got in his was there was a tug on his pant leg.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama....Rin is still hungry." Sesshoumaru looked down at the young girl, Rin's eyes were as big as plates, eyeing his food eagerly.  
  
"You may have mine." Sesshoumaru said, calmly his nerves and sitting back down, his back turned to Inuyasha while Rin started eating Sesshoumaru's helping of food.  
  
"Sango and I are going to wash all the blood stained clothes in the river." Kagome announced.  
  
"Rin wants to help." The seven year old chirped, eyes looking hopeful. Soon Kagome, Sango and Rin were carrying everyone's blood stained clothes to the river.  
  
"I don't see why he wears this all the time." Kagome said, having also carried Sesshoumaru's armor to be cleaned as well. Little did she know how heavy it was. Kagome had stored some of the cleaning stuff from her time in Kaede's hut, knowing that Inuyasha would always get his kimono dirty.  
  
"Wow....Sesshoumaru's kimono is finally white again." Kagome said, having just spent the last half-hour trying to get all the blood stains out of the Taiyoukai's kimono top. Rin was playing in the water while Sango and Kagome toiled with the scrubbing.  
  
Finally everyone's clothes were clean, even Sesshoumaru's blood soaked armor looked new. Rin carried Miroku's robe back to the village and handed it to the monk.  
  
"Here you go Miroku-sama!" Rin chirped.  
  
"Thank you, I was wondering something Rin, would you....." The monk stopped as Kagome glared at him, as did Inuyasha, who was still sulking. Sango had her boomerang ready to pound Miroku into the ground. Sesshoumaru had heard from Kagome what the monk asked women and his claws were ready to rip Miroku's throat out.  
  
"What were you going to say Miroku-sama?" Rin asked, looking up at the monk.  
  
"Err...nothing Rin...why don't you go play with Shippou." Miroku said. Rin nodded and dragged Shippou out to catch fireflies.  
"I'm going to bed....it's been a long day." Sango said, yawning and laying down. Kirara took her place on Sango's bed, Miroku leaned against the wall, staff in hand. Kagome called Shippou and Rin in, the fox kit curled up in Kagome's lap and quickly fell asleep and soon Rin joined. Inuyasha slept in the far corner of the room, his arms wrapped around Tetsusaiga, Ah-Un slept outside, ears still alert to any danger. Sesshoumaru went outside and jumped into a nice sized tree and watched the moon and stars come up.  
  
Kagome was glad to be back among friends.  
  
~*~End Chapter~*~  
  
WD: Yay! Everyone's happy....but for how long?  
  
~*~Reviews~*~  
  
Silverstargazing: Yup....lots of chaos, lots of bloodshed, lots of Sesshoumaru, lots of Kagome.  
  
Sukera: Glad that you made it through Lent. Are you eating lots of candy and sugar?  
  
Mystic Hanyou: Glad you like the other stories. I'm only up to writing Chapter 13 for Blast From the Past, so that one will probably be a bit late....  
  
Kagome-1990: I'll update as soon as I get it back from my beta readers.  
  
Yume014: I try to keep the characters as in character as possible, I've read a lot of fics where Sesshoumaru is too much of a softy.  
  
Devil's Reincarnation: Oh I don't know.....who knows what he was going to ask.  
  
Tbiris: Yup....thanks for your review  
  
HieilovesBotan: Glad you like.  
  
Shippou's Acorns: That's okay, you haven't reviewed, I haven't updated. Hope you're feeling better.  
  
Senko S Jaganshi: I'll update as soon as I get the chapter back from my beta readers.  
  
~*~ 


	12. The Last Straw

Disclaimer: You must be pretty thick if you haven't figured it out by now.....  
  
Sorry for late updates again....my stupid.....guess I shouldn't call them stupid as they are my father and step-mother.....but darn it, they're being slow!!!!  
  
Last time: "Kagome-chan can't tell Sesshoumaru-sama, but Rin tied Jaken up and put him in the closest." "Kagome! You're alive!" "Glad to see you're still alive." "Inuyasha, if you continued to talk of Rin that way, I will personally rip your arm off." Kagome was glad to be back among friends.   
  
Chapter 12: The Last Straw  
  
Kagome was running through the night forest, the full moon was high above her head, casting shadows onto the ground below.  
  
"Kagome!" Someone called out, Kagome looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. It sounded a lot like Shippou, only he sounded fuzzy, like a badly tuned radio.  
  
"Shippou...is that you?" Kagome asked, running farther into the forest.  
  
"Kagome....." Shippou's voice said, only now it sounded farther away than it had been before. Kagome strained her eyes to look for anything, in the distance she saw something blue floating along the path, going deeper and deeper into the forest.  
  
"Shippou....if this is one of your jokes I'll-"Kagome said, running towards the blue orb floating in front of her. Kagome reached out to grab it, only to find it out of her reach. Then another blue orb joined the first one, both floated farther and farther away from Kagome.  
  
There was a scream and Kagome whirled around only to find the two blue orbs turn a blood red.  
  
Now she realized that it was Rin and Shippou crying out in pain.  
  
Kagome woke up in cold sweat, breathing heavy.  
  
"I haven't had that dream for a while.....why me?" Kagome said. Looking around she saw that she was still in Kaede's hut, Miroku and Sango were still sleeping. Shippou was curled up Kirara and Rin was also asleep. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were gone however....  
  
With the dream still in her mind Kagome quietly left the hut, wanting to take a walk. Into the forest she walked, taking deep breaths and trying not to think of that dream.  
  
'Still.....this isn't the first time I've had a dream like that....' Kagome thought, looking around and finding herself lost. Kagome turned around and started walking the way she had come, only to find herself more lost than before. Sighing, she continued to walk, hoping to see something familiar, she pushed past a large bush and gasped.  
  
Inuyasha was with Kikyo.  
  
"Inu....yasha...." Kagome whispered. There was the hanyou, embracing the dead miko.  
  
"Kikyo.....I knew that Naraku was lying....you wouldn't join his side." Inuyasha said.  
  
"The one that follows you around....she tried to kill me." Kikyo said.  
  
"Kagome....." Inuyasha said, not really believing Kikyo. Before Inuyasha could say anything else Kikyo clapped her hands and Inuyasha froze. Kagome gasped as Inuyasha's eyes turned a dull red.  
  
Kikyo was controlling Inuyasha.  
  
"Inuyasha.....you love me right?" Kikyo said, smiling evilly when she spotted Kagome.  
  
"Yes." Inuyasha said simply.  
  
"For us to be together....I shall need the rest of my soul." Kikyo said.  
  
"How can I get it for you love?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes still a dull red hue.  
  
"I wish for you to kill Kagome." Kikyo said. Kagome gasped and started to back away, surely Inuyasha wouldn't kill her.  
  
"Yes my love." Inuyasha said, turning around. Kagome fled, forgetting that Inuyasha was under Kikyo's control. Kagome continued to run, wanting to get as far away from Inuyasha as possible.  
  
"Why me...I seem to be a magnet for trouble." Kagome said, looking behind her. Inuyasha was catching up with her, his claws were flexing.  
  
"If you give up now your death will be quick and painless." Inuyasha said...only it wasn't Inuyasha. Kagome shivered, it was Naraku talking. Naraku had taken over Inuyasha through Kikyo.  
  
Suddenly Kagome tripped on a tree root and was sent tumbling. She winced in pain and rolled over, needing to run. Before she could Kagome saw Inuyasha come down on her, Tetsusaiga drawn and ready to shed her blood. Kagome closed her eyes, not wanting to see her once friend.  
  
There was a flash of lightning and Kagome opened her eyes to see someone standing in front of her.  
  
"Kagome-chan!" Kagome turned around and saw Sango and Miroku running towards her. Above her stood Sesshoumaru, Toukijin blocking Tetsusaiga from finishing the fatal blow to Kagome.  
  
"Sesshou...Sesshoumaru?" Kagome wondered, the Taiyoukai glared at his half-brother and pushed Toukijin forward, forcing Inuyasha back.  
  
"Are you alright Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, helping her friend up to her feet.  
  
"That's not Inuyasha. He's being controlled by Naraku!" Kagome cried out. Sesshoumaru looked a bit surprised, but not much.  
  
"Kikyo needs the rest of her soul." Inuyasha said melancholy. Sesshoumaru growled while Miroku and Sango stared up at Inuyasha in shock.  
  
"That's not Inuyasha, Naraku has taken control of him through Kikyo." Kagome said, hoping that Sesshoumaru wouldn't chop Inuyasha in half. Sesshoumaru pushed Inuyasha onto his back, knocking him out.  
  
"We leave." Sesshoumaru ordered, leaving no room for debate. Ah-Un came running up to Sesshoumaru with Rin and Shippou on its back.  
  
"I....I can't.....I can't believe he would....." Kagome continued to whimper and finally broke down to tears on Sesshoumaru's kimono. Sango and Miroku mounted Kirara while Sesshoumaru put a still tearful Kagome onto Ah- Un.  
  
"Umm...Sesshoumaru-sama....where are we going?" Miroku asked the Taiyoukai.  
  
"To the Western Lands, I don't trust the village to keep the hanyou under control." Sesshoumaru said. Sango and Miroku looked at each other, a little unsure, going to the home of the youkai that had tried to kill them some dozen times?.....Ether way, they didn't want to go back to Inuyasha and they couldn't leave Kagome, she would want them near during the next few days.  
  
They flew from some hours, the sun leaded the way, even thought Sesshoumaru didn't need the sun to guide him. They landed about an hour away from Sesshoumaru's home, Kagome had fallen asleep during the flight and no one disturbed her.  
  
"I can't believe it....I can't believe Inu-"Sango was cut off by Miroku, who looked at her with a sigh.  
  
"Try not to think about that. Lets just try and get far away from him." Miroku said. Kirara meowed in agreement, in her sleep Kagome sighed.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, are Kagome-chan's friends going to stay with us too?" Rin asked the Taiyoukai. "Because Rin wants Shippou-chan to stay with us so that Rin and Shippou-chan can play in the gardens with Jaken-sama and Kagome-chan, and Kagome-chan can teach Rin more stuff." The little girl took a deep breath of air, getting light-headed from all the talking.  
  
"Where is Jaken?" Sesshoumaru asked, looking at the girl running around his feet.  
  
"Ummm.....I dunno." Rin said innocently, her sheepish grin giving her away.  
  
"Rin." Sesshoumaru said more sternly than the first time, he also locked eyes with the little girl, who pouted.

  
  
"Rin tied Jaken-sama up and put him in the closet because Jaken-sama said that Sesshoumaru-sama wasn't going to come back because Sesshoumaru- sama didn't like Rin so Rin tied Jaken-sama up and went out on Ah-Un to find Sesshoumaru-sama." Rin said.  
  
"Do not tie Jaken up any more." Sesshoumaru said. Rin nodded and started chasing Shippou around Kirara's feet.  
  
Kagome had finally woken up when the group arrived at Sesshoumaru's castle. Sango and Miroku were in awe at the size and beauty of the castle, Shippou couldn't have cared less. As he and Rin were running around the entry hall playing tag Jaken came running up, glaring at Rin.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama! That demon child tied me up and locked me in the closet! I demand punishment!" Jaken yelled.  
  
"And, pray tell, Jaken, who is the Taiyoukai?" Sesshoumaru growled at the little toad youkai.  
  
"You are Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken said fearfully, seeing the wrath in the Taiyoukai's eyes.  
  
"Correct, I suggest you not make demands of me Jaken." Sesshoumaru said coldly. "Prepare rooms for our guests."  
  
"More humans?" Jaken finally saw Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Shippou and Kagome standing there. "Why are you back wench?" Jaken said, pointing at Kagome. The miko growled and stepped on the toad.  
  
"Come on Sango-chan, I'll show you the hot springs." Kagome said.  
  
"There are hot springs here?" Sango asked.  
  
"Part of this place was built on a natural hot spring." Kagome answered, then she and Sango headed for the baths, giving Miroku a look that promised massive pain if he looked. Still the monk tried to follow, until Kagome pointed him in the direction of the other hot spring, which was next to the girl's hot spring, but was divided by a wall.   
  
"This feels so nice." Sango said, relaxing into the warm water. The water in the spring was a grassy green color from the plant and herb extracts that the servants put into the water. The girls sat in the hot spring for a half hour when Sango got out, wanting to talk to Miroku about something. Kagome, however, stayed in the baths a little longer.  
  
"I wonder what they put in the water to make it so relaxing?" Kagome wondered to herself out loud.  
  
"A special mix of herbs that is family secret." Someone said to the right. Kagome jumped and looked around, ready to deafen the person for spying on her. All she saw was a wall, painted with trees and flowers.  
  
"You humans talk so loudly, no wonder they were prey in the early days."  
  
"Sesshoumaru! What are you doing?" Kagome asked, leaning against the wall that separated the male and female side of the baths.  
  
"What do you think I'm doing here Kagome?" Sesshoumaru answered through the wall, smirking to himself.  
  
"I think you were spying." Kagome growled.  
  
"Do you think I would lower myself to that?" Sesshoumaru questioned.  
  
"Whatever." Kagome sighed.  
  
Suddenly Rin and Shippou ran into the baths and shut the door. Kagome was about to ask them what they were doing, but Sesshoumaru beat her. He had crossed over to the girl's side of the bath and stood looking at the children. Kagome eeped and quickly closed her eyes before noticed that he had his gi on. ((AN: geez people...it's rated PG-13 points to rating see....))  
  
"What are you two doing?" Sesshoumaru asked. Rin and the fox kit looked at him with one of those we-are-just-playing-but-tied-Jaken-up-and- locked-him-in-the-closet-and-now-he's-looking-for-us looks.  
  
"We were just playing Sesshoumaru-sama." Rin chirped.  
  
"Playing what?" Sesshoumaru asked, noticing the guilty yet grinning faces.  
"Ummm....nothing Sesshoumaru-sama...." Rin said, then she grabbed Shippou's hand and ran out the door, dragging the fox kit along.  
  
"YOU SICK YOUKAI! GET BACK TO YOUR OWN SIDE!" Kagome yelled, ducking into the water, knowing that he couldn't see anything because of the water's color....but still.  
  
"If I remember correctly, this is my home." Sesshoumaru said, giving her one of his trademark smirks before leaving her.  
  
Kagome and the others ate a fairly peaceful dinner, if you count out Miroku getting slapped, Shippou and Rin talking non-stop and Kagome eating like she had been starved for weeks. Jaken was grumbling about Rin and Shippou, as he was only just let out of the closet they had locked him in.  
  
"Umm...Sesshoumaru...where are Sango and Miroku going to sleep?" Kagome asked.  
  
"They already have rooms made for them, unless you would rather have them sleep in the halls?" Sesshoumaru said, giving Jaken a death glare, his grumbling had become very annoying.  
  
Kagome was about to say something when there was a loud crash. Sesshoumaru growled and stood up, Sango, Miroku and Kagome following suit.  
  
"Jaken, take Rin and the fox kit to my room. Don't let anyone in." Sesshoumaru growled. Jaken nodded and herded the children towards the bedroom.  
  
"What is it Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked, wishing that she had her bow with her.  
  
"Inuyasha." As if on cue, a very pissed off hanyou broke the door down, Tetsusaiga drawn, murder in his eyes. 

End Chapter  
  
WD: Well there ya go. Chapter 12 of The Other Taiyoukai. Hope you all liked it. If not, go ahead and send flames, then I have an excuse about not doing my homework. 'My homework was burnt to crispy bits by the people who hate my story.' Anyway.....If you have a question about my story, go ahead and ask it in your review hint hint and I'll answer in the next chapter.  
  
Reviews  
  
HieilovesBotan: I know...it's been awhile, I've been trying to finish re- typing the rest of this story, then there's Blast From the Past, I'm REALLY far behind with that story. sigh So much to do...so few people to do it for me. (saw that on a shirt)  
  
Mystic Hanyou: Well....Kikyo played a nice part in this chapter. You almost feel sorry for Inuyasha...almost..  
  
Silverdstargazing: I'm sorry I've kept you waiting for so long. I've been trying to finish this story up and keep forgetting to update it.  
  
Mysticalwings: Yup, but Kikyo got out....sigh I hate Kikyo. Hate her. Grr...Kikyo must die.  
  
Sukera: Glad you can eat sugar again. Sorry about making you wait so long for another chapter. But the good news is that I've finished typing all of this story. Now I just have to send it off to my beta readers and wait for them to go over it.  
  
Devil's Reincarnation: I don't think Inu-chan's going to be asking anything. He's kinda controlled right now. Poor Inu-chan.  
  
Tbiris: Awww....Sesshou-chan came to Kagome's aid. How cute. 


	13. Sticks and Stones

Disclaimer: People who think I own Inu-chan must have really thick heads.  
  
WD: Hey guess what?  
  
Inu cast: What?  
  
WD: I broke my foot during gym! Well...alright...it's not broken, but I have a Level 3 sprain, so I'm in a nifty little cast for 3-6 weeks. Good side: I GET TO MISS GYM CLASS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR! Yay! Okay...I thought I'd let you all know about that.  
  
Last time: "Kikyo.....I knew that Naraku was lying....you wouldn't join his side." "I wish for you to kill Kagome." "If you give up now your death will be quick and painless." "To the Western Lands, I don't trust the village to keep the hanyou under control." "Correct, I suggest you not make demands of me Jaken." "If I remember correctly, this is my home."==  
  
==Chapter 13: Sticks and Stones==  
  
"Sesshoumaru you bastard!" Inuyasha yelled at his half-brother, without waiting for a response Inuyasha charged at Sesshoumaru. The Taiyoukai quickly drew Toukijin and blocked Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha growled and continued attacked Sesshoumaru, who growled back and continued blocking.  
  
"Inuyasha, will you never learn your place? A hanyou should act like a hanyou, and lick he ground!" Sesshoumaru finally started attacking Inuyasha, Toukijin cutting Inuyasha before the hanyou had time to react.  
  
"Sesshoumaru! That's not Inuyasha, he's still being controlled!" Kagome cried out, Inuyasha's eyes turned a dull blood red, confirming that he was being controlled. Sesshoumaru used the pressure that Toukijin made to knock Inuyasha into a wall, blood dripping on the floor. The Taiyoukai ran to grab Inuyasha, but the hanyou surprisingly dodged Sesshoumaru and grabbed Sesshoumaru's left kimono sleeve, knowing that he couldn't defend himself with only one arm.  
  
For once the hanyou caught the Taiyoukai off guard and flung Sesshoumaru to the ground. Inuyasha brought Tetsusaiga down to slice his brother in half when-  
  
((AN: I could be really really really mean and end it there but it would be a really short chapter....))  
  
-suddenly Tetsusaiga changed into its dormant state as it hit Sesshoumaru's head.  
  
"Wh-what happened?!" Gasped Miroku and Sango at the same time. Inuyasha was just as surprised, as was Sesshoumaru, although he would never show it.  
  
"I know! Tetsusaiga is a protection sword, but because Inuyasha isn't using it to defend someone and Tetsusaiga is refusing to cut Sesshoumaru!" Kagome said. Inuyasha growled at his sword for not obeying its master. Sesshoumaru recovered from the shock and forcefully kicked Inuyasha in the gut, sending the hanyou into another wall. Inuyasha slumped over, knocked out.  
  
"What should we do with him?" Before any of them could do anything, a white mist formed around Inuyasha and the hanyou disappeared.  
  
"Inu...yasha..." Kagome said....wondering where he went.  
  
"Hehehahahaha....don't worry....soon...." A cold voice said, Sesshoumaru growled and Kagome felt the goose bumps rise on her arms.  
  
"Naraku." Sesshoumaru growled.  
  
"Kukukuku....very good Sesshoumaru, you're getting sharper every day." Naraku's voice said, "Don't worry Taiyoukai, we'll meet face to face soon enough....but for now....I must take Inuyasha and leave..." The dark, cold voice faded from the room, along with Inuyasha. Kagome shivered, Sango and Miroku were still looking around, just in case. Sesshoumaru growled in irritation but headed down one of the many halls of his house, the humans following.  
  
The Taiyoukai stopped at his room and tried to open the door, only to find it locked.  
  
"Jaken....open the door." The little toad did not answer and Sesshoumaru growled. "Jaken, open the door." Sesshoumaru growled again.  
  
"How does this lowly Jaken know that it's the real Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken asked from inside the door.  
  
'Heh....smart toad.' Sesshoumaru thought. 'He's following my orders to great extent.' "Jaken, open the door."  
  
"No. Not until I know you're the real Sesshoumaru-sama."  
"Would an imposter know that my mother used a 3 foot sword engraved with sakura blossoms on the handle and the family crest on the blade?" Sesshoumaru asked, going to great detail about the sword. Suddenly the door opened and there stood Jaken with Rin and Shippou.  
  
"This Jaken is sorry Sesshoumaru-sama, but you said-"  
"I know what I said Jaken, you did well." Sesshoumaru said, Rin ran out of the room and hugged the Taiyoukai's tail while Shippou ran out and latched himself to Kagome.  
  
"Shippou-chan, are you alright?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Yup! Rin and I played 'I spy' with Jaken." Shippou chirped, mentioning the game that the miko had taught him. "Then Rin and I played tag and it was fun!"  
  
"Alright. I think it's time for you two to go to bed." Kagome said, Shippou and Rin pouted but followed the miko to Rin's room anyway.  
  
"Can I stay with Rin Kagome?" Shippou asked hopefully.  
  
"I don't see why not, but if I hear a single peep its back to your own room." Kagome said.  
  
"Alright. Can you tell us a story?" Shippou asked. Kagome sighed but nodded and started telling the kids a story.  
  
Kagome ended up telling the fox kit and little girl three stories before they finally fell asleep. Kagome yawned and headed for the room she had before and fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.  
  
==  
  
Kagome woke to Shippou and Rin bouncing on her bed, Kagome tackled the kids and started tickling them ruthlessly. Just as Kagome thought they were all tickled out, Shippou and Rin tackled Kagome in turn, tickling her sides.  
  
"Oh no....I'm being tickled to death." Kagome laughed as the children continued their assault on Kagome. Soon they were all panting from laughter. After catching their breath Rin and Shippou ran down the hall to wolf down some food. Kagome changed into a pale green kimono and headed down to eat as well.  
"You slept in Kagome-chan." Sango said, greeting her friend and taking a sip of tea. Kagome nodded and sat down beside Rin, who was trying to talk to Shippou with her mouth full of food.  
  
"I would have slept in later if the kids hadn't woken me up." Kagome said.  
  
"That's why I sent them in to wake you up." Sesshoumaru said, calmly drinking a cup of green tea.  
  
After breakfast Kagome took a quick bath and changed into a tougher kimono, hoping to find the dojo and shoot some arrows, she was getting rusty with her bow. She wandered around for a long time but finally found the room with weapons of every kind hanging from the walls.  
  
"Finally.....you'd think Sesshoumaru would have 'You are here' maps." Kagome said, panting from her long walk. She walked into the dojo only to find Sesshoumaru there. The Taiyoukai was doing a sword kata, his eyes closed in concentration, his movements seemed effortless as he swung Tenseiga around. Kagome turned to leave when something landed at her feet.  
  
"Defend yourself." Sesshoumaru said, turning around from his kata and charging her.  
  
==Meanwhile==  
  
"So....the plan failed." Naraku growled. The evil hanyou sat in a dark room, with him were Kagura, Kanna, Kohaku, Kikyo and Inuyasha. Inuyasha's eyes were still a blood red as Naraku's control of him hadn't let up.  
  
"Tetsusaiga wouldn't respond when Inuyasha tried to kill Sesshoumaru." Kanna said, replaying the scene from last night in her mirror.  
  
"But why?" Kikyo asked.  
  
"Tetsusaiga is sword for protecting humans, and Inuyasha wasn't protecting any humans." Naraku said, looking at the sword at Inuyasha's waist.  
  
"Now what?" Kohaku asked, his eyes blank as well.  
  
"While the first attack wasn't successful, this may help us. They are unprepared, the villages in the Western Lands are confused and will seek refuge in the Taiyoukai's castle." Naraku said. "We shall wipe them all out in one fell sweep." Naraku started laughing evilly.  
  
"Get the armies ready, we match towards the Western Lands tomorrow morning." The evil hanyou said, still chuckling to himself.  
  
==Back at Sesshoumaru's castle==  
  
"Eep!" Was all Kagome could say as Sesshoumaru charged her. She forgot all about the wooden sword at her feet and ran. Sesshoumaru sighed and cut off her exit.  
  
"Come now Kagome, have I taught her nothing?" Sesshoumaru asked. Kagome blinked at Sesshoumaru, he sighed again and handed Kagome a real sword.  
  
"Sesshoumaru....what....I've never used a real sword....just the wooden ones." Kagome said, taking the real sword and gasping. It was a lot heavier than the wooden swords! Kagome then noticed that it was full tang, which meant that the blade ran all the way through the handle, which made the sword stronger but heavier.  
  
"Then it's time you learned how to use a real sword." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"But what if I-"  
  
"You won't, that sword has no edge, and even if it did, I doubt you could even hit me with it." Sesshoumaru said, smirking at Kagome as she took the insult. He redrew Tenseiga and charged her, Kagome brought the sword up, muttering about how heavy it was. Tenseiga clanged against the sword, making Kagome's hands and arms shake and her teeth rattle.  
  
"So you do remember how to block, I guess all my training wasn't a waste of time." Sesshoumaru said while Kagome glared at him.  
  
"I remember more than just how to block." Kagome replied, bringing her sword over her head for an overhead chop but Sesshoumaru easily blocked it and sent Kagome backwards. She fell off balance for a spilt second and the Taiyoukai was on her in an instant. ((AN: not like that! points to rating see....PG13))  
  
"I see you have forgotten a lot." Sesshoumaru said, having gotten Kagome stuck into a corner.  
"I haven't forgotten that much!" Kagome growled.  
  
"You've forgotten enough that I win this round." Sesshoumaru said, lightly running Tenseiga down Kagome's throat, the miko shivered at the sword's cool touch.  
  
'That's right, Tenseiga is a healing sword. It feels...tingly...kinda nice.' Kagome thought. Sesshoumaru stepped back, allowing Kagome to get into a defensive stance before he attacked her again.  
  
Kagome was a bit better the second time around, all of Sesshoumaru's lessons coming slowly back to her. She ran to attack Sesshoumaru, and found herself on the ground, Tenseiga at her chest.  
  
"Baka, you ran full at me, all I had to do was use your own momentum against you and give you a little push." Sesshoumaru said, smirking before lightly poking at the place where Kagome's heart would be, sending shivers down her spine.  
  
'So she likes the feeling of Tensegia, her eyes give away everything...well then...' Sesshoumaru calmly stepped aside and Kagome pushed herself off the ground and attack him again, bring her sword up for an overhead chop. Sesshoumaru was faster and moved to the side, bringing his own sword up and slashing across Kagome's side. Kagome gasped as a sharp, hot pain found it's way to where Sesshoumaru has attacked her. In what seemed like blind pain she fell to the ground. Above her stood Sesshoumaru, Tenseiga pointed at her neck.  
  
'But Tensegia is a healing sword!' Kagome gasped in her mind.  
  
"Remember Kagome, even a healing sword is still a sword, you should treat it like one." Sesshoumaru said, putting Tensegia away and helping her up.  
  
"Is that what it's like to be cut by a real sword?" Kagome asked, looking at her side, there was a little cut in her kimono, but no broken skin.  
  
"No. A real sword would cut through you like wet paper, slicing whatever organs and bones stood in its way." Sesshoumaru answered, Kagome shivered at the thought.  
  
During lunch, Rin and Shippou were talking about what they could do that afternoon in the gardens. Sango and Miroku were talking about youkai slaying, much to Jaken's dismay. Kagome sat and watched Rin and Shippou eat like starved wolves while Sesshoumaru sighed and drank down some green tea.  
  
Suddenly a bird flew in and landed on the table, startling Kagome, Sango, Shippou and Miroku. Sesshoumaru just looked at the little sparrow who was now standing on his bowl of rice.  
  
"Suzume!" Rin chirped, petting the bird and giggling. "You came back!" The bird nodded and hopped off the table and, to the surprise of the guests, started to grow bigger and bigger. The little bird that had landed in Sesshoumaru's rice was now the a young woman, shorter than Kagome, the girl had hair the color of the bird and had feathers sticking this way and that.  
  
"Suzume-sama!" Rin chirped again, giving the newcomer a hug. The bird- lady smiled and bowed to Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, I'm sorry for the rude interruption but there is important news from the Eastern Lands." Suzume said, panting while Rin started picking feathers from the girl's clothes.  
  
"What news from Hayato's lands?" Sesshoumaru asked.  
  
"It's Naraku! He's got a whole army of youkai headed this way!"  
  
==End Chapter==  
  
WD: There ya go.....hope you all liked Chapter 13. It's getting more and more intense.....  
  
==Reviews==  
  
HieilovesBotan: Well...Kikyo isn't dead yet....sadly....I hate Kikyo....stupid Kikyo....must kill Kikyo....  
  
Silverstargazing: Well...I hope this chapter answered your question. They're all safe...but for how long?  
  
Mystic Hanyou: I enjoyed writing the hot spring scene...it was fun. Hopefully I can squeeze out another funny hot spring scene again...  
  
Tbiris: Oi.....I don't know....I suppose that could have been clearer. Oh well....let your imagination fill that in k?  
  
Sukera: Glad you liked! I finally finished typing up this story! Yay for me!  
  
Mysticalwings: There will be plenty of Sess/Kag fluff later...but right now...it's lots of battles and stuff like that.  
  
RoquesHeart: Muffin? looks around MUFFIN!!!! Mine! My muffin! tackles Sesshoumaru Gimmie muffin! Muffin muffin muffin muffin! Lovely nifty neat muffins! sits on Sesshoumaru while happily eating muffin  
  
Mary773: Well thank you! I'm glad you liked my story and reviewed!  
  
Eddie4: That's okay....you never know....they might become a couple....maybe...  
  
Spirit of the Anime Angel: I'll try to update soon! Thanks for reviewing! 


	14. No Title

Dear Readers,  
  
Don't worry, this isn't a good-bye note. But first off, if anyone reports me for posting an author notice, I'll get my stories taken off and I'll have to start all over from chapter 1 for all my stories. And nobody wants that.  
  
Anyways, I'll be going to my father's house for the first part of summer break. Therefore....I will sadly not be able to update any of my stories during that time. I leave the 10th, and I'll probably be back the 2nd week or so of August. And don't worry, I'll be working on all of the stories while I'm at my father's house, so I should have lots to keep me busy, typing everything up and all.  
  
So when I get back, I'll take this letter down and put a new chapter up. I hope to all my lovely readers out there, that you'll bear part of the summer without any updates. BTW, I could transfer all my stories and chapters onto a floppy disk and take them to Illinois (where my dad lives) with me....but my dad's computer doesn't take floppies.  
  
Anyone who wants to chat with me over the summer is more than welcome to drop me an email at wolfdragoncomcast.net.  
  
Have a great summer and stay safe!!!  
  
From the loving WD.  
  
And because FF.net is getting weird again and I can't post author notes for some reason, I'll add in a preview for the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 2 for The Other Taiyoukai  
  
Sesshoumaru, Kagome, Sango, Miroku and the others are getting ready for the fight of the century with Naraku and Inuyasha. Kagome gets a new protector, and we can only hope that she was paying attention during Sesshoumaru's sword lessons.  
  
So you could say that I am working on this story (I really should be working on my other stories too) and that I'm still alive...minus the time when I'm not online. Yay! Alright, so I'll repost this and hopefully it will keep you all happy until I get back to my normal computer.  
  
Happy Trails! 


	15. Loyalty's Blood

Disclaimer: It's not here....go bug some other chapter.

WD: Alright! Chapter 14!Yay! Hope you guys like it. And after being at my father's house for a really good part of the summer, I'm back with all new chapters. Yay!

==Last time: "Sesshoumaru! That's not Inuyasha, he's still being controlled!" "I know! Tetsusaiga is a protection sword, but because Inuyasha isn't using it to defend someone and Tetsusaiga is refusing to cut Sesshoumaru!" "Finally.....you'd think Sesshoumaru would have 'You are here' maps." "Get the armies ready, we match towards the Western Lands tomorrow morning." "It's Naraku! He's got a whole army of youkai headed this way!" ==

==Chapter 14: Loyalty's Blood==

"How many?" Sesshoumaru asked Suzume, his eyes narrowed.

"At least 100,000, if not more Sesshoumaru-sama. He's gathering youkai on the way." Suzume said. "Should I call the villagers here Sesshoumaru-sama?" The bird youkai asked.

"Suzume, you warn the villagers, tell them they can find refuge here. Tell your men to call the other Taiyoukai here, tell them to bring their families as well." Sesshoumaru said, Suzume bowed to the still stunned people at the table and took off, changing into her sparrow form once more.

"Sesshoumaru?....." Kagome said quietly.

"Jaken." The Taiyoukai said.

"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama?" The toad asked.

"Take Rin and the fox kit to the secret room, take enough food for at least two weeks, bring more food and water than needed, you will have four more mouths to feed." Sesshoumaru ordered. Jaken nodded and started to herd Rin and Shippou down a hall when Rin broke free and ran to Sesshoumaru, latching herself to his tail.

"But Rin doesn't want to go Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin will be-"The little girl started to weep, not wanting to leave her father figure.

"Rin, please stop your crying." Sesshoumaru said, patting the girl on the head. Rin stopped her crying instantly. She nodded and gave her Sesshoumaru-sama's tail another hug.

"Come on Rin-chan, we can tell stories and draw!" Shippou chirped. Rin nodded and followed Shippou and Jaken down a hallway.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked.

"We have less than a week to prepare for a huge attack on this castle, I suggest honing your weapons." Sesshoumaru said, walking towards his study.

==

The next day humans from the village started pouring into Sesshoumaru's castle. Kagome was amazed that Sesshoumaru would let them in.

"Why would Sesshoumaru let humans into his castle?" Kagome wondered out loud, watching people come in.

"They are from my villages, I do not wish for the deaths of my people, even if they are human." Someone said from behind Kagome. The miko turned around to see Sesshoumaru standing there, also watching the humans.

"Why are they all coming here? Is the castle safe enough?" Kagome asked.

"The women and children will go underground to the keep. The men shall fight with us." Sesshoumaru answered.

"What did you mean when you said to Jaken 'You'll have four more mouths to feed.'?"

"The other Taiyoukai will be here with their families, the pups will go with Rin and Shippou." Sesshoumaru answered.

"Who all will be here?"

"The Taiyoukai of the North, Katzumi, Tsuya and her pups Ai and Kane. The Taiyoukai of the South, Akihiro and Seiko and her pups Etsu and Haru. Then there is the Taiyoukai of the East, Hayato, who is unmated." Sesshoumaru said.

"And their armies right?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, along with some minor youkai lords and their armies. If you wish to usher the females and children from the villages to the keep, you are welcome to." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome nodded and with help from Sango, got all the women and children into the underground keep.

==

The next day more people from the villages came and were led into the keep along with the others. Most of them had food with them, those who didn't got food from the kitchens. Along with the humans came the arrival of the other Taiyoukai. Hayato came first, along with his army, which camped outside. Next came the Taiyoukai of the North and South, who had traveled together.

"Welcome Katzumi-sama." Kagome said, bowing to the Taiyoukai of the North.

"You are Kagome, Sesshoumaru-sama's miko right?" Katzumi asked. Kagome nodded and bowed to Tsuya, Katzumi's mate. Both of them were cat youkai, and powerful ones at that.

"Kagome-sama, it is an honor to meet you." Tsuya said. Kagome blushed.

"Please call me Kagome Tsuya-sama."

"Then you must call me Tsuya."

"Deal."

==

After meeting all the other Taiyoukai and their pups, Kagome was ready for food. Tsuya and Kagome had become very fast and the Lady of the North had already told Kagome a couple embarrassing tales of Sesshoumaru when he was a pup.

"As much as I enjoy you two laughing at my childhood, I need to speak to Kagome." Sesshoumaru said, having heard some of the things Tsuya was telling Kagome.

"What is it Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked. He had led to her the weapons room and took a sword off the shelf and handed it to her.

"You will need it, keep it close." He said.

"Sesshoumaru....I can't accept this." Kagome said, looking at the sword.

"Yes you can." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome pulled the sword out of the scabbard and gasped, it was full tang and was 3 feet long, but was light as a feather. There were sakura blossoms engraved on the part of the handle and what looked like a family crest on the first part of the blade.

"Sesshoumaru....this is your mother's sword!" Kagome gasped.

"It was also my sword after she died." Sesshoumaru said.

"I can't take it....it was your mother's." Kagome started to hand it back to him, but he wouldn't take it.

"Keep it Kagome, she would have love to have her old sword back in use, it has been far too long since it has been of use to my family."

==

Dinner was packed, all the Taiyoukai and some of the high-ranking humans attended dinner, and some of the lower-youkai lords had yet to arrive. Kagome helped pass food out to everyone and finally took a seat next to Sesshoumaru.

"Been busy have we?" He asked, smirking.

"Yes, and carrying this sword around only leaves me with one hand." Kagome growled.

"You know....there are ways to tie it to your kimono..." Sesshoumaru said.

"What?"

"Why do you think there are little strings attached to the scabbard?" Sesshoumaru pointed to the black ribbon that was wrapped around the black scabbard. Kagome blushed while the Taiyoukai of the West smirked. After dinner Sesshoumaru headed towards his study until-

"Sesshoumaru! Wait up! I want to say something!" Sesshoumaru stopped and looked at the miko who was running to catch up with him.

"Make it quick."

"Well, I wanted to say thank you for taking me in and teaching me and letting Sango and Miroku and Shippou staying and ummm...yeah." Sesshoumaru looked at her with his blank face and nodded slightly, then turned to leave. Kagome grabbed his arm before he could get very far.

"Do you wish to say something more?" He asked.

"Well...it's more like....what I want to give you." Kagome said. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at her.

"There is nothing you have that could possibly interest me." Sesshoumaru said, Kagome touched the empty kimono sleeve where Sesshoumaru's left arm used to be. He gave her one of his death glares, but she didn't see it as her eyes where closed. There was a sudden pink blast of light, temporarily blinding the Taiyoukai. When the annoying black and red dots in front of his eyes had gone, his eyes opened a millimeter more in surprise.

"How's that for a 'thank you' gift?" Kagome chirped. Sesshoumaru stared down at his now left arm, it was real, right down to the strips on his wrist. Before he could say anything, she was humming and walking down the halls.

==

Kagome awoke to Sango and Miroku's face in hers. Miroku had been recently slapped, as he had a large, red hand mark on his face.

"Wh...what time is it?" Kagome yawned.

"Sesshoumaru-sama told us to wake you up, he wishes for all of us to be present at his meeting." Sango said, growling at Miroku for his wandering hand.

"Let me get dressed." Sango nodded and dragged Miroku out of Kagome's room. The miko chose a pale blue kimono and tied her new sword to it. Kagome yawned once more and headed down the hall, following Sango and Miroku.

"It's about time." Sesshoumaru said without looking up. He sat at a table with the other youkai lords and their mates. Kagome had no chance to respond as she found herself in someone's arms. She gasped in surprise and Sesshoumaru growled as she turned around to meet her attacker.

==End Chapter==

WD: I know I know...it's a really short chapter. Only 5 pages according to my computer. Umm...yeah....

==Reviews==

HieilovesBotan: I too hate Kikyo, I think I might have killed her off.....but I'm not sure. I'd have to check the next chapter.

Silverstargazing: Heh.....glad you liked! Yup, Naraku is coming. Evil Naraku....evil I say!

RoguesHeart: Ack! Milk!!! Evil milk! I can't drink milk, I'm a vegan....soymilk would be nice though.....vegan, no meat, no dairy.....but I will eat that chocolate cake....

Eddie4: It was kinda short wasn't it? This chapter's only 5 pages long on my computer, but the next chapter is 15 pages....I think...

Sukera: Will do. I'll update ASAP. Yay! Thankies for reviewing!

Tbiris: Naraku may have more to worry about, but Kagome still isn't as good as Sesshou-chan with a sword....

Kagomefire: I might have taken it down or something....I don't know, but it's back up! Yay! And I'll be sure to read your stories, in fact, I'll go read them now.

Kai Fang: Glad you liked it! Thanks for a review!

Devil's Reincarnation: I'm glad I updated to. Hope you liked!


	16. Endings

Disclaimer: sigh I'm not in the mood....

WD: So, the reason for not updating The Other Taiyoukai was, indeed, I don't have the next chapter. My computer got a nifty little virus that completely took over my computer. I was able to save some of my stories, but Chapter 16 for The Other Taiyoukai was sadly, not saved in time.

So I got to completely re-write the ENTIRE chapter, before it got eaten, it was 15 pages long, so hopefully I can come somewhere close to that. So if you don't see any updates, it either because I have homework, and homework comes first, or I'm COMPLETELY retyping the chapter in question.

-Last time: "At least 100,000, if not more Sesshoumaru-sama. He's gathering youkai on the way." "The women and children will go underground to the keep. The men shall fight with us." Kagome pulled the sword out of the scabbard and gasped, it was full tang and was 3 feet long, but was light as a feather. There were sakura blossoms engraved on the part of the handle and what looked like a family crest on the first part of the blade. She gasped in surprise and Sesshoumaru growled as she turned around to meet her attacker.-

-Chapter 16: Endings-

"Kagome!" The miko's attacker said, hugging Kagome tightly.

"Kouga?!" Kagome gasped, pushing her way out of the wolf youkai's grasp. After getting over the shock of being nearly hugged to death, Kagome looked at Kouga with worry.

"What's the matter Kagome?" Kouga said, also worried, he could hear Sesshoumaru's threatening growls, but paid them no heed.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Kagome asked, the miko started blushing, as every youkai in the room had their eyes locked on Sesshoumaru, his growls getting louder.

"I'm here to fight Naraku to avenge my pack." The wolf youkai replied.

"If you are finished...." Sesshoumaru said, deadly still. Kouga nodded and took his seat at the large table that had been set up. All the Taiyoukai were there, minus the pups of course. Katzumi, Akihiro, Hayato, Tsuya, and Seiko were all sitting calmly around the table, along with some minor youkai lords.

"As you are aware, Naraku and his army draw closer everyday, my scouts have reported that the evil hanyou has gathered at least 100,000 youkai. An army that large would trample anyone of us alone, but we have banded together. We will defeat Naraku." Sesshoumaru said, finishing his little speech. Some of the Taiyoukai nodded while a couple of them looked a bit uncertain.

"I have an army of 6,000 at my command." Akihiro said.

"9,500." Katzumi said, next to Sesshoumaru, the Taiyoukai of the North was the most powerful.

"4,000." Hayato said.

"And I have 1,500 wolf youkai waiting for my command." Kouga said, he seemed very proud of this fact.

"And I have 10,000 units." Sesshoumaru said. Along with the 3,000 other youkai from the armies of the minor lords, Kagome figured they had about 35,000.

"That's not enough." Kagome said quietly.

"What do you mean Kagome?" Tsuya asked.

"We only have 35,000 while Naraku has 100,000." Kagome said, some of the faces fell at this knowledge, while some seemed unfazed.

"The villagers and men will fight with us." Sesshoumaru said. Kagome nodded, although she could guess that only 1,500 or so would be able to fight. A lot of the village men were too old or too young to fight. Combined with the villagers, Sesshoumaru's side had 36,500, while Naraku still had 100,000.

Still, the others did not seem worried.

-

Dinner was rather uneventful; all the Taiyoukai pups had gone into hiding with Rin, Shippou and Jaken. And with no Shippou and Rin pestering everyone, dinner wasn't as funny as it used to be. Most of the Taiyoukai there were talking about money or how to handle rebellion villages.

"This is rather boring." Kagome whispered to Sango, the huntress nodded in agreement.

The only really funny thing that happened was when Katzumi had a bit too much sake. Besides that, there were four times people spilled food or drink, and one time when Sango slapped Miroku for his wandering hand.

-

After dinner the Taiyoukai retreated to a quiet room, Kagome guessed they were planning an attack on the upcoming battle. She, Sango and Miroku were not invited to that meeting however, and had to find other sources of entertainment. Sango found a book about youkai hunters in the Western Lands over the years, while Miroku tried not to control his wandering hand. After getting slapped a second time in less than an hour, the monk picked up a book about Tao.

Kagome however, was not content with just reading an old book. Sure, they were interesting and her history teacher would have a field day with them; but Kagome wanted to know what Sesshoumaru and the others were planning.

Walking as quietly as humanly possible, the miko crouched outside the meeting that was taking place behind a screen door. Thankfully, the sun was still up and didn't cast her shadow onto the paper-thin door, otherwise, she would have been easily spotted. Inside there were voices, it seemed like everyone wanted to talk at once. There was also a bit of arguing going on, Akihiro said to put troops in one place, while Hayato said to put them somewhere else. All the while Sesshoumaru was talking as calmly as ever, even thought his voice did have an icy state to it.

Suddenly the talking stopped, Kagome blinked in confusion. Where they done? Had they finished discussing the massive battle?

"Would you like to come in?" Someone said from above Kagome, and suddenly the door slide open, reveiling Sesshoumaru calmly looking down at the miko that had been eavesdropping on their meeting.

"Alright." Kagome said, a bit too happily. She was all to interesting in what they had planned for the battle, and maybe she could help a bit. After all, he had read about all of history's great wars.

After taking a seat at the long table, Kagome noticed that there was a large piece of paper; ink had been used to draw in the terrain where Kagome guessed the battle would take place. After studying the map and the little blocks of wood the Taiyoukai had used to indicate their forces and Naraku's forces, Kagome had a few ideas.

"Put some archers here." Kagome said, pointing to a grove of trees on the left flank of Naraku's army.

"Archers would be put to better use in the front lines miko." Hayato said.

"Well, they could stay in the front, but if you put them in that little forest, they can pick off Naraku's youkai before they even got to the front lines." Kagome said, Sesshoumaru and the other Taiyoukai saw her point and agreed to put over half their archers in the forest. Katzumi moved a little blue block of wood over to the forest.

"And have them roll around in the dirt or something, stick leaves on them. That way they'll be harder to spot in the trees." Kagome said.

"Wonderful idea." Akihiro said, smiling.

"How many horses do we have?" Kagome asked.

"Only 3,000 between all of us. Not including the village horses" Sesshoumaru answered. Kagome frowned, it would have been better if they had more horses, and Kagome was sure that the horses from the villages were draft like horses, used for plowing.

"Hrm....how much time do we have before Naraku get here?" The miko asked, she had another idea, but it would take a couple of days to complete it.

"Scouts report that we have four days if Naraku keeps up his current pace." Akihiro said.

"Good." Kagome said, her face brightening, "Get all the strong youkai and hearty men out first thing tomorrow morning. We're building hunting pits."

"We're building what?" Sesshoumaru asked, all the other Taiyoukai looked at Kagome, at first she turned a bright red, but the battle ahead was more important then being embarrassed.

"Hunting traps. Dig a six foot deep hole, make it twelve feet long, and six feet wide, then we need to sharpen some sticks. We'll need to bury the sticks partway down into the holes, then cover the holes with twigs and grass. And when Naraku's army comes, they'll fall into the holes." Kagome explained.

"Brilliant!" Katzumi exclaimed, he picked up a paintbrush and made some more marks on the map.

"Kagome, how do you know of these things?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"I've seen war movies." Kagome answered.

"And what are these movies you speak of?" Hayato asked, "Some kind of magic?"

"Ummm....not quite....they're like moving pictures that tell a story." Kagome said, blushing again. She had forgotten that this wasn't the 21st century.

The other Taiyoukai seemed to take that as a good answer, and continued planning. Kagome watched Sesshoumaru and the others plan the up coming battle, while she sat and tried to think of more things that could help.

"Bombs!" The miko said, interrupting Sesshoumaru's idea. The thought of bombs had popped into Kagome's head while she was thinking about her Chemistry homework that still had to get done.

"Now what Kagome?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Bombs, we can make some simple bombs and drop them on Naraku's army from up in the air." Kagome answered, she remembered her chemistry teacher who, unlike other teachers, taught his students more than the Periodic Table of Elements.

"And what do these 'bombs' do, and how would we make them?" Hayato asked.

"Simple. We'll need equal parts charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate. Charcoal can be found anywhere were a fire's been, sulfur can be found in caves and potassium nitrate can be found in decomposing material." Kagome said, taking a second to breath, "When we mix all three things together, we can pack it tightly in some bamboo stalks, and use oil soaked cloth as a fuse. Then we have all the youkai that can fly light the fuse and drop the bamboo." Kagome finished, she was glad she had remembered her chemistry lessons.

"Anything else you think would be useful?" Katzumi asked.

"After the archers have fired, after the pits, when the front lines meet, have a group of horsemen charge from the side into Naraku's army. It will surprise and confuse them. Try not to stop, just charge through; then turn around and do it again." Kagome said, that had worked in Return of The King, so if it could work for Lord of The Rings, it could work here too....she hoped.

"You are more educated than most the females around here, why?" Hayato asked.

"Umm...." Kagome didn't get to finish her answer as Sesshoumaru gave Hayato a warning glare.

"We shall have all the men and youkai getting ready first thing in the morning." Katzumi said. Everyone else agreed and got up; the meeting was over.

-

"Kagome, follow me." Sesshoumaru said once the other Taiyoukai were away, the miko fell into step along side the Taiyoukai. "That was very impressive, your knowledge of battles."

"Thanks...I think." Kagome answered, she had never heard Sesshoumaru compliment anyone before.

Sesshoumaru led Kagome outside, past his large house and into what looked like a long barn.

"Sesshoumaru, what is this place?" Kagome asked, Sesshoumaru opened the doors and Kagome was instantly hit with the smell of animals.

"The stables." The Taiyoukai answered, Kagome looked around in awe. There were hundreds of large box shaped stalls that lined each side of the wall.

"I've never seen so many horses." Kagome said, and indeed, she hadn't. There were horses of every size and color. Ponies that didn't reach her waist, horses that stood at her shoulder. Some of the horses were light and fast, others were big, heavy draft horses with hooves the size of Kagome's head.

Along with all the different sizes of horses, there were the colors. Whites, blacks, browns, roans, all the different colors that horses came in and then some. As the miko followed the Taiyoukai down the long hall of stables, many of the horses came to see if the newcomer had any apples. One pure black stallion stuck his head out and nipped at Kagome, who jumped.

"Ignore him. Yang just wants food." Sesshoumaru said, petting the black stallion behind the ears. The horse, named Yang apparently, was a huge horse; his head was in line with Sesshoumaru's.

"Whose is he?" Kagome asked.

"He's mine. Purebred warhorse. Full youkai as well." Sesshoumaru said. In the next stall there was a whinny and whitish-grey horse stuck its head out.

"Wow...she's pretty." Kagome said, instantly taking a liking to the white mare.

"I let Rin name some of the horses; she named mine Yang, and the white one Yin. I suppose it's fitting though." Sesshoumaru said, Kagome smiled at the white horse, who was also a large warhorse, not as big as Yang, but still big enough.

"Is she a youkai as well?" Kagome asked, petting Yin between the ears.

"Yes, and she's yours." Sesshoumaru said. At first Kagome didn't register what he had said, then it clicked.

"Wait...what?" Kagome gasped, she had never owned a horse before, she had had a year of horse riding lessons, but she never learned how to take care of a horse.

"I will not have you battling Naraku's army on the ground. Yin has been in battle's before, she'll know what to do...even if her rider doesn't." Sesshoumaru smirked as his last comment.

"I've ridden a horse before, thank you very much." Kagome huffed, "And I could prove it to."

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows raised a millimeter and he smiled the faintest of grins. "Then prove it." The Taiyoukai dared.

After much embarrassment on trying to get on the large warhorse, Kagome finally sat comfortably in the saddle of the white mare. Sesshoumaru sat on Yang, calm as ever; along with the Western Taiyoukai, Tsuya, mate of the Northern Taiyoukai, was riding around the indoor dirt ring.

"Kagome!" Tsuya called, bringing her light brown mare over to Kagome, who looked a bit nervous.

"Heya Tsuya." Kagome answered, and after hearing about Sesshoumaru's dare, Katzumi's mate laughed.

"It's easy, youkai horses are a lot smarter than human horses. Tell Yin to walk, and she'll walk." Tsuya said, petting her own horse in between the ears.

After awhile Kagome got the hang of riding her large warhorse. Yin seemed very calm the whole time, even though her rider was shaking. Sesshoumaru, Tsuya and Kagome walked around the ring a couple times, then moved into a trot. The trio skipped right over cantering and charged into a full gallop, in which Kagome just hung onto Yin's mane for dear life.

-

Legs still shaking, Kagome hugged Yin goodnight and headed out of the sables with Sesshoumaru. However, the miko stopped at one of the stalls and squealed with delight. Sesshoumaru saw what Kagome was looking at and sighed.

"That's Rin's horse." He stated. In the stall was a pony, it was a black and white pinto, and its mismatched mane had been braided with flowers stuck here and there; the same went for its tail. The pony looked at Kagome with big sweet eyes and swished its tail back and forth. It looked to be about Rin's size, not too big, but not too small either.

"Awww...it's so cute." Kagome said.

"It's cute now, but it's a full youkai warhorse like yours. It'll grow with Rin, when she grows taller so will the horse." Sesshoumaru said, almost having to drag Kagome out of the sables and back to the library.

"That's cool." Kagome said, yawning. While she, Sesshoumaru and Tsuya had been riding, it had gotten dark fast; and now the moon shone above the skies. When Sesshoumaru and Kagome finally arrived at the library, they found a sleeping Sango and Miroku.

-

The next morning brought work for everyone. Under the Taiyoukai's instructions, many of the youkai and village men were digging pits. Others were sharpening large sticks to bury halfway when the pits were done. Still others were in tents, carefully mixing the ingretenates for the bombs under Kagome's instructions.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!" Someone called from the air, everyone stopped what they were doing to watch a little sparrow dive bomb towards the ground. Kagome peeked out of the tent to see Suzume standing before Sesshoumaru, panting as if she'd been flying fast and hard.

"What is it Suzume?" Sesshoumaru asked, everyone listened intently, even the humans that couldn't hear the Taiyoukai and sparrow youkai talk.

"It's Naraku's army! They've picked up the pace! They'll be here by tomorrow afternoon at the latest!" The sparrow youkai said, clearly scared. Uneasiness settled over the workers....only a day left?

"Keep working!" Katzumi called out to the youkai and men working, after a couple seconds they did as they were told, not wanting to upset anyone of the Taiyoukai.

"Sesshoumaru, will we be ready?" Kagome asked, Miroku had taken over the mixing of the bombs, leaving the miko free to talk with Suzume and Sesshoumaru.

"We will have to be." The Western Taiyoukai answered, turning away to oversee the rest of the workers.

-

That night guards were posted around the entire castle, most of them were night dwelling youkai, and they always had their weapons ready in case of an early attack. Inside, everyone ate in silence, they knew what was coming. Even the humans felt that odd feeling that one gets in the pit of their stomach, a warning that something dreadful is about to happen, and although the humans didn't feel it as much as the youkai, both were worried.

Sesshoumaru, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Katzumi, Tsuya, Akihiro, Seiko and Hayato all sat at a table at the front of the hall. Rin, Shippou and the other pups were still safely hidden away, and no one heard a peep from where they were hiding.

"Sesshoumaru, what if-"Kagome was cut off by the Taiyoukai.

"There are many 'what ifs' Kagome, some will happen, some won't happen. All we can do is wait and see. Tomorrow will bring whatever tomorrow brings." Sesshoumaru said, calmly grabbing a piece of fish with his chopsticks.

-

People and youkai alike woke before sunrise, Kagome stepped outside to view the sun just start to rise over the mountains. The glowing orb painted the clouds in different shades of pink and purple, tinted with red. The land below sparkled with little rainbows when the sun hit the morning dew on the plants.

"It is beautiful isn't it?" A voice said from behind Kagome, the miko didn't bother to turn around, she knew who it was. Sesshoumaru joined Kagome outside, both stood on the wet grass. A slight breeze passed by, and the wind played with Sesshoumaru's hair and tail, swirling it around with Kagome's.

"It is....but...I can't help but know....that this will be the last sunrise for a lot of people." Kagome said sadly. Sesshoumaru didn't answer, but stood there in calm silence.

Once the sun had finished its morning dance, Sesshoumaru and Kagome headed towards the hall where everyone was eating, breakfast waiting for them. They were met with silence by the human and youkai alike, no one talked or even whispered, just the occasional wooden clang of chopsticks on bowl would ring through out the hall.

In some cases the warlord would make a speech before a large battle, or any battle for that matter. But this was not one of those cases, silence held what everyone was thinking.

-

Sesshoumaru, Kagome and the other Taiyoukai stood on top of a little hill. Surrounding them were thousands of people and youkai, all bearing some sort of weapon. Some held swords, bows, spears, and still others held just pitchforks. Kagome felt odd, sitting atop a her large warhorse, while so many didn't have horses of their own.

Kagome's horse, Yin, was dressed in battle armor, which covered her chest, flank and neck from enemy arrows. Sesshoumaru sat on his warhorse as well, and Yang was dressed in the same attire as his white counterpart.

Yet Kagome was surprised to see that some of the villagers did have horses. A little less than half were mounted on steeds, not all of them were horses however. One man rode a large bull with sharpened horns, the odd man himself seemed to fit perfectly with the bull, a large axe in his hand.

Kagome had also been surprised that so many villagers had shown up, more than 3,000 people had come to fight. Mostly men, but there were some women as well. Kagome spared a glance at Sango and Miroku, who were both waiting by Kirara for the sign to charge.

Then it came, over the plain came a dark mass, clouds formed and blocked out the sun, as if such vile creatures weren't worthy of the brightness. Kagome gulped, one hand already on her sword handle.

Suddenly some of Naraku's youkai forces started falling, disappearing from site; Kagome gave a quick sigh of relief as the pit traps worked. As soon as the youkai started falling into the pits, even more fell, yet those were still far from the pits. A wave of arrows plunged their way into Naraku's army, bringing down tens of enemy at a time.

Even more fell as explosions roared through the air, bombs were being dropped where the arrows couldn't reach. As soon as the enemy stopped and looked around, wondering why their comrades where being killed, and at the height of confusion Sesshoumaru called the charge.

Yin gladly charged towards the massive army of enemy youkai, Yang and Sesshoumaru where farther ahead, as where the other Taiyoukai. When they saw their Lords charge, the rest of the youkai and villages charged into the fray as well. Those who were youkai or mounted on horses were faster, but all in all the army charged as one; like a raging river about to hit the rapids.

There was a clear cut line as the Taiyoukai's forces closed in on Naraku's. And the pounding of hooves and feet on the dirt packed ground soon became the ringing and clashing of blade on blade. Dust instantly sprang from the ground, twirling about the battlefield.

Kagome instantly drew her sword, slashing down her first foe. She had planned on staying in one place and finishing off all of Naraku's enemies in that area....but Yin had other ideas. The youkai warhorse continued charging through anyone who got in her way, minus friends of course. Kagome noticed that no matter how she pulled on the reins, Yin as going to do what she thought was best, which was rather fine with Kagome, as she was busy trying to stay on and chop with her sword at the same time.

Beside her rode Tsuya, also on her warhorse, instead of a sword the female Taiyoukai used a huge naginata. A long staff with a wicked looking curved blade on the end, and Tsuya was wielding it with deadly accuracy. But her warhorse had different looking armor than Kagome's. On each side of the horse, a naginata had been attached, while Tsuya sliced in front and in back, her steed charged forward, slicing anyone on the left and right side.

As Yin continued to charge, one of the enemy archers fired an arrow, which landed right in the female warhorses' left flank; Tsuya's warhorse finished off the archer without haste. Yin whinnied in a mix a pain and anger, and Kagome was nearly flung off as her horse bucked, stomping flat anyone under her iron clad hooves.

"Yin! Are you alright?" Kagome asked once the large horse had stopped bucking, the miko had noticed the arrow, and was had gone to pull it out, but was stopped by a low growl. Kagome thought it was a enemy youkai nearby, but the growl had come from Yin, who stood there.

Suddenly Yin's mane and tail started flying around, even thought there was no wind. Kagome felt the air change around the warhorse change, and watched as the mare's brown eyes turned a blood red. As Yin's mane and tail continued dancing with an unknown wind, the horses' teeth grew to curved fangs, terrorifing when the mare's still red eyes and flying mane.

"Y..Yin?" Kagome asked meekly, watching the warhorse's teeth change. Just as mystrisly it had picked up, the unknown wind died down, even thought there hadn't been any sort of breeze. With a loud, unhorse like war cry, Yin charged back into the fray, fangs and hooves slashing this way and that. Whatever didn't get caught in her teeth was instantly trampled by her hooves.

After a moment of confusion, the sounds of battle brought Kagome back to the real world, and the miko re-drew her sword and started slashing whatever was lucky enough to miss the mare's fury. Out of the corner of her eye Kagome saw that Sango and Miroku were trapped in a ring of enemy youkai surrounding them. Turning, she saw Sesshoumaru riding through Naraku's forces, heading towards the evil hanyou, Kagome wasn't surprised that his warhorse had changed as well.

"Yin! Sango and Miroku are in trouble!" Kagome cried out, hoping Yin would hear over the cries of war. The warhorse stopped suddenly, dropping the spider youkai that had been pierced by deadly fangs. Kagome quickly climbed off Yin and turned towards the gray mare, whose red eyes were still blazing with an intense fire. "Protect my friends." Kagome said, Yin nodded and reared, turning on her back hooves and charging towards the miko's friends.

-

"Sango! Look out!" Miroku cried, the huntress turned around just in time to destroy a snake youkai that was aimed at her back. She, Miroku and Kirara were surrounded by enemies, more than they could handle. Slowly the youkai had pushed them into a smaller and smaller circle.

There was a sudden youkai war-cry and the enemy started flying into the air. The trio turned to watch as a huge warhorse bit and fling enemies into the air. Sango had seen Yin the day before the battle, and knew the large mare was friendly...at least to non-enemy creatures. The horse let another war-cry ring throughout the battlefield, causing Sango and Miroku to cover their ears.

"Where's Kagome?" Sango yelled over the clang of swords and cries of wounded. The warhorse turned her head to point to Kaogme's location, where a blast of pink miko energy destroyed a group of youkai.

Trusting the blood-eyed horse, Sango, Miroku and Kirara continued fighting.

-

Kagome sent an arrow infused with her pink miko powers at a group of youkai, were it quickly destroyed them. The miko was sweating heavily, and her armor was covered in blood and dirt; yet Kagome continued fighting towards Naraku.

Suddenly she was intercepted by a flash of red, jumping back, Kagome was barely missed by her attacker. Turning, Kagome almost dropped her sword when she saw the face of-

"Inu..Inuyasha?" The miko stuttered, there was a growl in response from her enemy. But it was the hanyou, only, he didn't look like the Inuyasha Kagome knew. He was in his true youkai form, eyes blood red and purple jagged strips on his cheeks, but Tetsusaiga was at his waist. Then Kagome noticed the Jewel Shard in his back, the shard that was currently controlling the hanyou. Without warning, Inuyasha attacked with his deadly claws, Kagome put her sword up just in time to block the attack.

"Inuyasha! Wake up! It's me! Kagome!" The miko tried to reach her friend, but to no use. The hanyou continued to attack the miko, and Kagome continued to block; but she would never attack him in return. What Kagome didn't see was Kikyo drawing back her bow, an arrow aimed at Kagome.

Sudden pain entered Kagome's leg, and with a cry she fell to the ground, her sword forgotten. Inuyasha saw his prey fall and went for the kill, pouncing with claws ready. He saw the fear in the miko's eyes, but also saw something else, sadness, disappointment. He had never seen prey do that; something snapped inside the controlled hanyou, and Inuyasha stopped himself from delivering the killing blow to his friend just in time.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried, the shard flew out of his back and hit the ground. The hanyou rushed towards Kagome with worry clear on his features.

"Inu...Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, making sure it was really the hanyou she knew. He was out of his transformed state, and his eyes were back to the golden color they were supposed to be. With a cry of happiness, Kagome hugged Inuyasha, ignoring the shooting pain from the arrow in her leg.

"Kagome! What happened?!" The hanyou asked, not remembering anything from the start of the battle to when he had snapped. What he did remember was Kikyo bringing him to Naraku, then it was all blank. The smell of Kagome's blood entered his nose, and he looked at the arrow sticking out of his friend's leg. "Kagome! You're hurt!"

"It's alright Inuyasha. Naraku, he's-"The miko was cut off by Inuyasha's growl.

"Naraku. I'll kill him for this." Inuyasha growled again, then turned to where the evil hanyou was currently watching the battle. Inuyasha also noticed Sesshoumaru fighting towards Naraku, and another growl escaped his throat; there was no way he was going to let his older brother steal the kill. With another quick hug to Kagome, Inuyasha drew his sword and sped towards Naraku.

"It seems he didn't notice me." A voice said, Kagome turned around and was looking strait into an arrow. The owner of the arrow was none other than Kikyo, hatred burned in the dead miko's eyes.

"Kikyo." Kagome said, for some reason, it took a second to register in Kagome's mind that there was an arrow pointed at her face, when it did hit however, fear started to raise in Kagome's mind.

"With you out of the way, Inuyasha will have no choice but to come with me." Kikyo said, sneering. The older miko drew her bowstring back farther, and was about to release the arrow when she was suddenly flung into the air. Kagome gasped as her enemy was suddenly replaced by Yin.

"Yin!" Kagome cried out, both in shock and happiness. The mare growled at the un-dead miko, who carefully got up and looked from Kagome to the warhorse, and decided it was best to leave. Yin was about to give chase after the threat to her rider when Kagome stopped her.

"We need to help Sesshoumaru." Yin nodded and bent her head down so Kagome could pull herself up, before Kagome did, she grabbed Sesshoumaru's mother's sword from the ground. When the miko was finally standing, Yin pushed the girl onto her back and took off at a gallop, barely giving Kagome enough time to grab the reins.

-

"Ah, so you finally made it. I was getting a little bored." Naraku said, sneering at Sesshoumaru. The Taiyoukai was covered in blood, most of it was of his enemies, but not all of it; Sesshoumaru growled at the evil hanyou.

"You'll regret the day you ever set foot on my land Naraku." Sesshoumaru said, his voice still a deadly calm. This time it was Naraku's turn to growl, and growl he did. With a flash of light Naraku let go of his more human form and turned into the blob of misshaped youkai he was. A spider youkai leg here, an ogre youkai arm there.

"You should go crawl back to hole where you came from Naraku." Someone said, it wasn't Sesshoumaru, and both the evil hanyou and Taiyoukai turned towards the speaker.

"You." Naraku growled. Inuyasha stood there with his sword drawn and a look that could kill.

"Yeah me." The hanyou answered, and suddenly he attacked. Not wanting to be upshowed by his younger brother, Sesshoumaru attacked as well, together the brothers started hacking off the bits and pieces that were Naraku.

-

Yin set Kagome down, the warhorse sensing that the miko was not well. The two were on a little bluff, and could see the battle between brothers and Naraku. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru would attack at the same time, and every time, Naraku would block their attacks.

"I have to help them." Kagome said, taking the bow from a dead soldier beside her and grabbing an arrow from another one. Dismissing the awful feeling of using a dead man's bow, Kagome aimed her arrow towards Naraku and let the bowstring snap. Her arrow missed its mark but still hit Naraku, taking off a chunk of his blobbed shape.

The evil hanyou turned towards her direction with a scowl on his face, but didn't have a chance do to anything as Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were more of a threat at the moment. Naraku turned towards Inuyasha, who dodged the body parts Naraku was throwing at him. The evil hanyou turned towards Sesshoumaru, only, Sesshoumaru wasn't there.

In the place where Sesshoumaru once was, stood a massive dog, crestant moon confirming that it was still the Western Taiyoukai. The huge white dog growled, baring large fangs. Naraku started to look a bit worried, but not much. Sesshoumaru pounced, grabbing a piece of Naraku and shaking violently.

Naraku sent waves of tentacles at the dog, and was shocked to see them bounce off Sesshoumaru's fur. While he was busy with the large dog, Inuyasha took the opportunity to attack Naraku from the other side. The evil hanyou turned towards Inuyasha, and with that turn Sesshoumaru pulled the other way, tearing off a large chuck and spitting it onto the ground with a growl.

The vile creature known as Naraku sent a tentacle at Inuyasha, who wasn't aware and was caught by the projectile. With a thud Inuyasha landed on the ground, whether dead or just knocked out cold Kagome couldn't tell. Sesshoumaru growled and barked at his brother's fall, and aggressively attacked Naraku, fury in the dog's red eyes.

Kagome decided to intervene again with another arrow, this time more carefully aimed. It was still a little bit off its mark, and glanced Naraku's side instead of his gut. The miko growled and knocked another arrow, trying to aim carefully but at the same time quickly, as time was not on her side. She let her arrow fly and was glad it finally hit its mark, Naraku's left arm.

With a growl Naraku looked at Kagome, glaring; but his attention was taken away from the miko with a feral growl from Sesshoumaru. The huge dog lunged at Naraku's heart, biting down hard on whatever flesh he could get to. Naraku took his attention off of Sesshoumaru for a second and aimed a large claw at Kagome.

Kagome watched Sesshoumaru bit down on Naraku's chest area and aimed an arrow at the evil hanyou's head.

Both the claw and the purified arrow were released at the same time, and time seemed to stand still and each hit its mark.

With a cry Naraku was hit full force in the head by Kagome's arrow, and disappeared with a scream.

Kagome was almost blinded by pain as Naraku's finally assault hit her as well. The claw he had sent sliced through her neck, and warm blood started flowing the vein in her throat. Kagome fell, causing Yin to whinny loudly.

Sesshoumaru heard the miko fall and was at Kagome's side in an instant. The Taiyoukai looked at the blood that was flowing and quickly draining the miko's life away.

"Sess...Sesshoumaru." Kagome said weakly.

"Kagome you foolish girl." It was all the Taiyoukai could do was hold the miko as she took her last breath.

-

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Don't kill me! hides behind her computer There's a Part II! I promise! I'm already on chapter 8 for Part II. You'll just have to wait until I have some free time to post chapter one of part II. Thanks to all who read The Other Taiyoukai Part I, and thanks to all who reviewed. I hope to get just as many or more reviews for The Other Taiyoukai Part II. Thanks again!

-Reviews-

Devil's Reincarnation: Well, this one's a bit longer....16 pages I believe. Hope you enjoy.

Madam Sorceress: Well, it was just Kouga....hrm...Kouga didn't have that much of a role in this chapter...oh well, he's not my favorite character...

Tbiris: Hope this settled your wonders about what happens next. But what will happen in Part II....more cliffhangers for sure.

Crystal Koneko: You must have hated this cliffhanger than. Heh...Part II has cliffhangers as well, but not as big as this one was.

Mystic Hanyou: I'm glad I'm back too. It is fun writing, it's just I'm also trying to write my own stories that I hope to get published.

Inus girl: Well, I hope you enjoy the pairing. Some other really good Sess/Kag stories are by Striking Falcon. She writes very well.

Pinayazngrl: Glad you like it. I hope you'll stick around for Part II.

Sukera: I'll try to get chapter one of Part II up when I have some more free time.

Mystical Wings: Well, there wasn't a real battle between Kouga and Sesshoumaru, but I hope the rest of the chapter made up for that.

MM: Well, Part I is done, and I'm up to chapter eight for Part II.

K: Chapter one of Part II will hopefully be up soon.

Dagorwen of Ithilien: Don't worry, I'll try to get typing again, but school has been busy. And I'm trying to write my own stories and get them published.

Yersi Fanel: That would be really cool! Sure you can put them on your site! Inuyasha doesn't belong to me, but the stories and plot do....would you mind putting that by the stories please?

Ryu: Heya Jess! I finally updated, so now you can start bothering me about Part II.


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